The Appleseed Cast
Illumination Ritual

Spring seems to be delayed in bursting into days full of sun, flowers, and enveloping warmth; no panic, music will take care of that. On April 23, "Illumination Ritual" will be released, an album that seems promising right from the title; the authors? We are talking about those original Kansas natives, The Appleseed Cast, staples of the music scene for 15 years.

It was back in 1997 when their first work for Deep Elm Records came out (a record label that would mark their first phase of activity). It was the era of the emocore/indie scene that was booming in the late 90s/early 2000s, and our guys fully adhered to this at the beginning of their career. A few years later, in 2001, with the double volume "Low Level Owl," there comes, although partial, an expansion of the band’s horizons, as they increasingly leaned towards a post-rock sound foundation. This was confirmed by their subsequent works that put everyone in agreement and well-balanced the two stylistic tendencies (as is the case with "Peregrine," released in 2006). The risk of confusing the majority and remaining flat is, however, evident; it's not always easy to blend emo melody with grand post-rock "expansions." It was with their penultimate album "Sagarmatha" (2009) that the band almost entirely abandoned the emotional base, presenting it only in brief guitar and vocal parts; resulting in the final label of "post-rock" confirmed by the brief LP "Middle States" released in 2011 for Graveface Records, which also curated their latest album, preceded in March by the streaming single "Great Lake Derelict."

Upon first listen, the work of singer Christopher Crisci and company appears well contemplated and cohesive, though difficult to understand for those approaching the group for the first time. What stands out most is the combination of tracks that unfolds along a journey of good post-rock without, however, being excessive in originality. The album's guidelines become immediately clear: abundance of instrumental phrases (such as in the title track "Illumination Ritual"), repeated guitar incursions, a multitude of sound effects to which are added dense melodic passages capable of stirring nostalgia and associated feelings (as in "Cathedral Rings" and "Clearing Life"), and an incessant presence of background drums, perhaps attempts to animate the whole.

For genre enthusiasts, "Illumination Ritual" proves to be undoubtedly appreciable, for all others perhaps not so stimulating and new. Nonetheless, the extraordinary experience of The Appleseed Cast and their great technical skill ought to be rewarded, though not always in parallel.