Album Review: 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons

13 Blues for Thirteen Moons - Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & The Tra La La Band
6.0 of 10




I became enamored with post-rock/post-metal back in 2005 when I heard Pelican's The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw. I just find it [post-rock] to be very captivating and deadly. It's like standing on a beach and appreciating an approaching tsunami. So, being myself, I wasn't satisfied by getting all of Pelican's album alone. I have to scour the internet for other post-rock/post-metal bands. That's when I discovered Goddess You! Black Emperor, a post-rock band from Montreal, in which three of the members became A Silver Mt. Zion.

A Silver Mt. Zion, the inception of Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & The Tra La La Band, is an exemplary post-rock band. Their songs, mostly a soundscape of guitar feedbacks, violin, and low key piano collapsing on one another, can invoke emotions of awe and hopelessness. If a friend of mine happens to venture into post-rock, I'd write their first album (which title is too long to name) in my top five "must buy" list and hand it to him. Their latest album, 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons, however, is a different story.

13 Blues for Thirteen Moons is so far removed from the old Zion. They have strayed too far from their post-rock, creating a somewhat lost sound. While their songs are lengthy, like it was in old albums, they're rather stretched as opposed to epic. Their first track, "1,000,000 Died to Make This Sound", starts with a great intro. It opens slowly and then transits into a classic rock opera that reminds of me of Queen and Led Zeppelin. But after five minutes of listening to the song, it becomes repetitively dull. The rest of the album felt the same way too, and offered no respite from the long and tiresome repetition.

Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & The Tra La La Band's effort on their latest album came out short for me. Maybe it was my own fault because I was expecting too much from them. I badly wanted them to lure me into depressing depths with their droning soundscapes. In the end, I was just disappointed. Whether you're a fan of the band or of post-rock, I urge you to avoid this album at all cost.