Steak Number Eight
When the Candle Dies Out...

Are Isis announcing their breakup? Well, it's not a big deal; you move on, comforted by the fact that they never released an album that even slightly resembled a flop, and as far as I'm concerned, by the fact that I got to enjoy them live. Good old Aaron will surely reappear like a mushroom with some cool project that will add to the other thousand (I can only mention Old Man Gloom, House of Low Culture, and Jodis) already present in his resume.

Newcomers abound in the genre (the recent debuts that struck me the most are Swallow The Ocean/Last Minute to Jaffna/Lento), but my attention is fully on this young Belgian band that stood out in 2008 by winning the "Humo's Rock Rally" competition organized by the Belgian magazine of the same name. In the same year, their first album came out, which is good, but after seeing them live, I went from being an ultra-snobbish listener to a parent at their child's soccer match, youth category, and it became excellent. Listening to them with this perspective brings immediate enjoyment. The tracks are massive, some really powerful ("The Sea is Dying" and "My Hero"), winking at many, but mostly at Isis again. But what surprises is not the brilliance of the tracks, but the conception of music that these youngsters with traces of "emo-ness" on their faces manage to demonstrate despite being so young (15 years old???). Their ability to convey youthful angst not through the simplest means (punk?), but rather by losing themselves in interlaced arpeggios and sound progressions worthy of the best Neurosis, is absurd. That's surely why they won. There are a total of 7 tracks, all with small nods to the known solos, but all substantial and authoritative.

They are (and forgive me the comparison) a more intelligent, more sincere version (they won the competition with their own pieces, then produced for the album) and differently considered artistically compared to the monster Tokio Hotel. Ah, the production is excellent, the wall of sound is there, to sweep away certain comparisons they already take care of just by pressing a few boosts. They have all the cards to become absolute.

The smell might be of youthful spirit, but the taste is filthy, worthy of the best mud.