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"Beauty For Ashes" The Sabians |
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Now that the legendary Sleep has been laid to rest, The Sabians are a resurrection of sorts for 50% of their former members, singer/guitarist Justin Marler and drummer Chris Hakius. To go by the new band's description you'd have to hear it to believe it and now that I'm hearing it it's unlike anything I could've envisioned this side of a Tull revival. Penning intuitive lyrical views on the human condition and the world at large, "Beauty For Ashes" is a combination of the organic and ethereal-a chemically balanced mixture of classic guitar Rock, Celtic Folk, Chamber and new age ambience significantly influenced by Marler's spiritual retreat and rebirth. The differences between this and his former band? Sobriety and a spiritual awakening. The outcome is unlike anything we're used to and unto a territory where few would dare tread. The song writing depth involved to create such an emotional stir as to theme an entire record, a debut no less, around the make up of a human being… essentially we're drawn in by esoterically dark elements woven into a biological study and spiritual transcendence-where vice and virtue collide in a corporeal/incorporeal clash to be determined by the strength of belief and triumph of the will! The songs are in fact much livelier than the subject matter or previous Sleep music might suggest, often ranging within a moderate climate and dark/light patterns that belie typically Gothic or doom-related conditions. Fans of the former band will still recognize the occasionally plodding demeanor, "Beauty For Ashes," "Restoration," "Lull," that rather than define the music, now aids in a multi-layered character trait that aids in breathing new life into a previously "tired" formula. The resulting thrill ride of emotions between lament, loneliness, and enlightenment sees The Sabians impressively following their own karmic path on an eight song listening journey we would all do well to follow. "Beauty For Ashes?" Listen, learn, read on… Released by The Music Cartel Review by Vinnie Apicella [va85@columbia.edu] P.O. Box 20252
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