Nothing- Guilty of Everything

Grade: 6.9

Tracks:

1. Hymn To The Pillory 04:41 

2. Dig 04:02 

3. Bent Nail 02:57 

4. Endlessly 04:13 

5. Somersault 04:30 

6. Get Well 04:32 

7. Beat Around The Bush 04:05 

8. B&E 05:18 

9. Guilty Of Everything 04:23

Listen Here!

The first time I finished listening to this album, the same initial judgement was still swimming in my mind. I just kept thinking, "This sounds a lot like post-rock." I don't know if I could classify it in that genre though. I'm more inclined to classify it as a sort of alt-rock... mild space rock mixed with traditional 90's alt-rock, but the post-rock is definitely there. There is a progression in nearly every song. Each starts with reposed guitars which carefully build into triumphant riffs, the cousins of those used in metal. Things never get very heavy though. They build to a point and top out. So if you're a headbanger, find something else. Furthermore, post-rock songs are 2-3x longer than songs on Guilty of Everything. 

Nothing's vocalization is very hypnotic. Most lyrics are incomprehensibly murmured behind the careful arpeggio that the drums offer and the nearly incessant roar of electric guitars. The lyrics are cryptic, but poetic. They remind me of Deafheaven, minus the run-on phrases and general lack of structure. Dominic Palermo's ghostly voice whispers hidden truths which are poignant about half of the time. The lyrics are really quite surreal, inlaid in the fuzzy guitar haze. 

Spent Summers in a well watching pale moons disappear 

Alone 

And crucifixion seems noble 

when Paradise is Hell 

Atone

See what I mean? It's poetic and probably sort of profound, but its so cryptic it's difficult to deduce exactly what Palermo is trying to say. My one major contention with the album is that its stylistically one-note. There's nuance to the sounds that it creates, but it really does constrain itself to those specific sounds for the whole album (incessant guitars, steady percussion, hypnotically trickling vocals, etc.). Track 3 interested me the most. The whole album sounded very distorted, but this quality was most pronounced on Bent Nail. It had a garage-rock sort of character that very closely bordered grunge. It was the most obvious departure from the band's stylistic tendencies. It did keep the general sound of the band though. The departure was not a lewd one.

All in all, this is a very good album. It's ambient but still formidable. I'd imagine it's the type of things metal-heads fall asleep to each night. I couldn't fall asleep to it, but I certainly enjoy listening to it when I'm awake.