| Friction | 1996 |
| Absolutes | 1997 |
| Speakeasy | 1999 |
| Split EP | 2001 |
| Collective | 2001 |
If there is a single band that I still have a bias toward, it is Stavesacre. They weren't the first band I was really big into, and there really isn't any nostalgic reason or anything, but they are the one single band on this earth that I am truly a "fan" of, to the point of nearly putting them in the "perfect band" category. In fact, out of their three full length albums there isn't a single song that I don't love. But strangely, with the exception of the debut, every time Stavesacre ave released a new album I have initially been disappointed but it. I once thought Absolutes was too mild of a direction for the band to head in, I had problems (and still do) with where the band was heading after Speakeasy, and I still can't bring myself to enjoy the new EP all that much. They all (except the new EP) have grown on me with time, to the point where I consider them to be perfection. I won't review all of their albums because it would be useless to just see ten after ten awarded to them, but since the new EP was much less than perfect, I decided I could get away with a review of one of their albums if I put a review of the EP up too.
Their style has often been considered to that of Tool, but their songs are generally shorter, less epic, their music usually isn't as dark or as heavy, and they rely much more on melody than Tool. I find Stavesacre's music to be more dramatic with stronger emotion than Tool, and to be honest I might take any of Stavesacre's first 31 album tracks over any Tool song I've heard. I do like Tool a lot, but when I compare them to this band here I can't help but see a big difference in quality.
Now, since I'm a big serious reviewer guy, I'll have to at least make a slight attempt to be objective here, so let's point out some of the band's flaws. Only a couple of the band members are talented with their instruments. When Jeff Bellew was guitarist with the band he was competent and fit in very well with the music, but technically he was mediocre. Same thing goes for the new guitarists, and bassist Dirk Lemmenes (whose base playing was certainly entertaining, but just could never come close to the level of Lee or Enwistle or Harris).
Now in their favor both Jeremy Moffet (who was only with the band for the debut) and Sam West (current drummer) can put out some intense and fast rolls. I'm not putting on any best drummer ever list, but they are far from bad. Then we have the vocalist (who along with Dirk is the only original member left in the band), a man by the name of Mark Salmon. What is it that makes him the greatest vocalist of all time? He puts a feel into the music like no other person can. He can make otherwise ordinary hard rock songs (though most of Stavesacre's hard rock is far from ordinary) come to life. Not just is powerful cries and screams, but his gentle tones are simply amazing. I've yet to hear anyone whose singing can top his. A few come close, but even then they can only reach his level in their better moments.
Anyway, on with the flaws. Probably the other most major flaws their somewhat lacking diversity. Not that they have no variety at all, in fact compared to most hard rock bands that are around now, they are incredibly diverse with a blend of slow and fast, gentle and heavy, and so on. It's just that, well, if you're about to put one of their three albums in (in which case I congratulate you on your wise purchase), expect pretty much just hard rock. Stavesacre are a hard rock band, the best of their genre, not too original or groundbreaking, not amazingly diverse geniuses. Their style is unique, their music is quality. In my opinion they are the best band to emerge in the last twenty or maybe even thirty years, and one of the best ever.
Damn, that would have been a good way to end this little introduction, wouldn't it? Well, I can't stop there because there are a couple more things that I need to talk about first. Stavesacre are, believe it or not, a Christian band. Now, this could cause some problems, especially in the lyrics department, because Christian lyrics usually suck. But this is not the case with Stavesacre. The lyrics here, especially on Absolutes, are incredibly deep and well-written. Then again, I'm sure the ultra-right wing traditional conservative Christian community may deny them to be Christian at all, but that's just their problem. Stavesacre's lyrics are wonderfully intelligent and never dumb or cheesy.
To finish of this little intro, I'll say a few words about their three albums and one EP in a nutshell. Each of their albums has showed a change in their already unique sound. Friction was the hardest of the three albums, but also contained the softer and deeper side of the band that would become more apparent later on. It was one of the most successful releases from Tooth and Nail records and contained many of their better known songs. the follow-up, Absolutes, sold even better, but many knocked on it a little more than the debut, though personally I feel it is their strongest release yet. More recently the band released Speakeasy, considered by many people who are not me (including the band themselves) to be the band's best work. The music on several songs was more accessible and pop-oriented than it was before, but the classic sound could still be found on several songs. Following later was a disappointing split EP with Denison Mars which embraced the new pop-oriented sound that was present on Speakeasy, only this time the songs were forgettable. A review of that EP should be here in the near future.
--Robert Grazer
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COMMENTS
[email protected] (Harry Mooney)
So are you still looking for a hardcore Stavesacre fan to converse with? Because I think you can I will disagree on most everyhting but still share the common ground of them being one of the best bands ever.
Robert,
It's good to see someone out there with a healthy respect for Mark and the boys. My question to you is, are you yourself a christian? The basis of my question is your comment about "right wing christians". The christianity that Stavesacre preach, is one of uncompromising yielding to the undiluted will of God. Christianity isn't so much a "religion" or political stance, as much as an undiluted obedience to a God who deserves nothing but that.
Your thoughts appreciated,
Aaron Ireland
(reviewed by Robert Grazer)
HIGH POINTS: Stars And Clouds, Burning Clean, At The Moment, Anna Thema, Threshold, Minus, Devil. LOW POINTS: None.
Some bands debut with an album that shows that they know and are confident of what they expect to accomplish with an album. Others are unsure, and simply want to get something out there for their new record contract. Other bands experiment on their first release, hoping that maybe they’ll stumble across something that people like. Stavesacre’s debut masterpiece of Friction finds the band releasing an amazing collection of music, which may on the surface suggest that the band knows to some degree what they want, but there is both a young and fresh sound mixed in with a much more developed and mature sound, which would be expanded upon on the band’s later releases. In places, it can make the album seem disjointed, but overall it does end up helping the overall quality of the album, making this one f the best debuts ever released.
And it would be wrong to think of this sound as ripped from Tool, despite the majority of Friction being their most Tool-esque work. Tool’s real breakthrough and recognition with Aenima, which wasn’t released until several months after Friction’s release, making it unlikely that these guys sat down, listening to Undertow and thinking, “Hey, this sounds cool. Let’s do to too!” Not that Friction is a particularly groundbreaking or original release. That’s never something Stavesacre went in for. The pieces of the style used on this album have been floating around here and there in the musical world. Whether anyone bothered to put those pieces together in this way prior to the band’s release I’m not sure, but I do know that even in their earliest stages Stavesacre were not a Tool rip-off, as has been suggested in a couple places on the Web.
Anyway, the sound of the album in most places could generally be summed up as an alternative sound, almost metallic, at least, since this is certainly the band’s heaviest release. This is, I think, due in part to the fact that, with the exception of three or four of the songs here, which serve as major exceptions, the band hadn’t yet matured to the point where they could do anything more than metal. Which makes it surprising how well it works. Normally when that sort of thing happens we end up getting something like Nothing But Death Remains or one of a dozen other debut disasters which give no indication of a great band in the making, but as if by some strange miracle Stavesacre managed to pull it off here. And pull it off better than you’d think they could if you were just coming down from their more recent material.
Oddly enough, though, for all of its uncertainties and exceptions to whatever rules, Friction remains the one Stavesacre album I didn’t find myself disappointed by on first listen. I think this had more to do with my actual tastes at the time than with the record itself, since I was looking for a heavier album, and bought Friction based mostly around a love for “Threshold.” Even as such, this useless bit of personal history serves to tell you nothing except that this shouldn’t be your first Stavesacre purchase (unless of course you’re a Tool-head of some sort, as I mentioned above). It stood as my favorite of theirs for quite a long time (and was even my all-time favorite for awhile), though, and even now it comes pretty close to Absolutes for me, as a strong statement of most of the band’s qualities.
The performances of each of the band members is quite good for a debut, from the bass lines (which often do more than simply back the guitar, which is refreshing to hear) to the powerful guitar work to Jeremy Moffet’s drums. Friction would prove to be Moffet’s only album with the band, but he was still able to leave an impression just with his work here, which ranges from simple steady beats to dramatic and climactic rolls that go all over the place. He was quite a drummer, and I’m not sure what happened to him following this release or where he is now, but it’s a shame the band had to lose him. Fortunately, Sam West was a fitting replacement, but that’s for later.
Mark Salmon’s amazing voice is already working well with the music. You can find some of his best performances here, though nothing is quite as defining as the next album. He demonstrates his range and all around power as a vocalist quite well, breathing a higher level of life into what are already great songs, which would eventually prove to be his overall strength. Even if this were the band’s only album I’d still name him the best vocalist ever just from his work right here, and this isn’t even his best performance on an album (see the next release for that), which says a lot right there.
Lyrically in some ways the band hasn’t quite reached their peak, though the enormous potential is still quite apparent. The Christian themes, however, are much more buried on this album than any other, with only a couple songs that really can be considered truly Christian (“At The Moment” is certainly one of these), with most of the other topics ranging from topic to topic, family, country, etc., but it’s all still presented in interesting and sincere way. It would only be improved as the band went along, but it isn’t as if the band started at rock bottom and had nowhere to go but up, not at all. They started above most and then only moved higher.
And so overall the band takes everything the are and can do at this point and churns out ten songs onto an album. And do you know what? In each one’s own way each rules. The album would turn out to be a big success for Tooth And Nail Records (home of at least 50 some generic punk bands) and would make Stavesacre one of the most popular bands on the label (until they would leave in 2001 to pursue bigger and better things). But for all of its success and importance for it’s label, looking at the bigger picture Friction is just the remarkable debut of a hard rock band, nothing more, really. It doesn’t try to be. And that’s why it succeeds. A truly talented band doesn’t try to make a masterpiece. It just happens. And that’s what we have here. Ten truly astounding songs, one after another, each one consistently rewarding. What about the individual songs? Let’s go.
The opening “Threshold” begins the album with a sure bang, with a surprisingly good riff for how simple it is (even I can play it). The song sways back and forth between the harder chorus and the gentler verses quite effortlessly. It also contains one of the band’s only guitar solos, and sure it isn’t technically impressive, but it fits in perfectly with the rest of the song, and that’s what matters. “Threshold” is also one of two songs the band has done thus far (the other being “An Eclipsing”) to have a music video, and there’s not much to it really. Shots of the band playing in a warehouse and not much more. It is interesting to see the rather evil expression on Mark Salmon’s face as he sings the song, which sends a chill down my spine every time.
What follows is a tune that definitely seems like it was recorded directly after “Threshold,” since “Loader” continues in the same vein of energy as the opener. I’d also venture to say it’s the weakest moment on the album, which isn’t really a bad thing, and is mostly due to the fact that it’s sandwiched between two far superior songs, which really makes it seems like a less than fitting introduction to what comes next. In spite of that it manages to be quite memorable, and I catch myself humming it every now and then. It boasts of an intense mood impressive vocal melodies, which is good enough for me.
But there is plenty better on the album. One of the signs of artistic maturity comes with “At The Moment,” which also served as my introduction to the band, and as you can see, it was effective. It’s hard for me to effectively describe it, as it is one of my all-time favorite songs, but I’ll give it a go anyway. It’s quieter than most of the others on the album, a soft breath at the beginning (“With a sigh I greet the day”) that eventually builds up through a short but absolutely amazing instrumental break into the final climax (beginning with the “creation speaks to me”) where every member of the band comes together, playing at their absolute best. Salmon cries out a line in Hebrew (which isn’t as silly as it seems written here) and the band lets the song finally cool down. Lyrically it perfectly describes a feeling hope and comfort found in God, the vocal delivery making the lyrics all the more effective. It ends up being an complete triumph for the band, one of their finest moments.
“Suffocate Me” can’t dream of matching that, and it doesn’t really try to, as it’s a return to the band’s harder feel, but it remains a success as the heavier mood is backed by Salmon’s dramatic delivery and the heavy pounding of the guitars and drums, all with a catchy bass line thrown in. It doesn’t really continue in the mood of the album or anything, but it adds to the album’s overall feel. On the other hand it does have the most impressive lyrics of the rockers on the album containing quite a few memorable lines throughout, which stands as anther sign of the band’s budding potential.
What follows isn’t another lyrical statement at all as the band ventures out into instrumental ground with “Minus,” which is quite repetitive if you think about it, but it doesn’t really matter since it’s quite easy to just lose yourself in it. It moves slowly form soft to heavy and back again, working the main melody of the song to a point of beauty, a soft contrast to the more intense moments seen on the first half of the album. It’s a peaceful and atmospheric end to the first half of the album, leaving a good impression of the band, and a desire for more great music, which they go on to deliver through the albums second (and even more impressive) half.
The album’s most intense moment comes in the following “Devil,” beginning with the tension of the opening lines building stronger and stronger until it explodes with the chorus. A fantastic guitar riff backs Salmon’s screams, with the guitar and bass doing their best to keep up with the overall intense mood. It’s really quite something to hear, and I feel like a fool for originally dismissing it when I first heard it. And amazing song it is. For some reason the lyrics for the song aren’t listed with the others, but rather are behind the CD in the case, along with the band’s symbol and a picture of a King Snake (or at least I think it’s a King Snake).
A victory of recognition for the band came when “Tranewreck” was included on the Godmoney soundtrack (along with a lot of reject, and not-so-reject, punk). I suppose it can be seen as almost a heavier punk song, but I’d never call it that. It’s a fantastic tune that suffers only from the flaw of being too short. It ranks as Stavesacre’s shortest song, at a whopping one minute and forty seconds. But what’s there I’ll take, I especially love the “I see the lies” chorus of the song, All in all it’s a catchy minute and a half, it’s just sort of a shame it wasn’t twice as long, that would have been even nicer.
“Burning Clean” is quite a change from the previous few tracks, as another of the album’s more developed tracks, but it proves itself to be even more amazing than “At The Moment” was. It shifts around from it’s quiet clean intro into a slightly faster verse in as truly magnificent way, leaving a strong impression with every note. Through several amazing musical passages the song progresses to a powerful climax before slowly drifting back to the opening melody to the song. Again every single band member performs flawlessly, only adding to the track’s perfection. The music alone makes "Burning Clean" an absolute classic and triumph for the band, but the lyrics serve as an added bonus. Probably the best on the album, they reflect the feeling of the music, containing some of the most effective lyrics I've heard. The band's message comes across perfectly.
Among Stavesacre's most popular tracks is “Anna Thema,” which stood as a long time as my favorite rocker from them, and I still hold it as one of their finest moments. It’s based around an incredibly simplistic riff with the pounding drums perfectly creating a mood of anger and hatred, which is obviously what the band had intended. Salmon lets out some of his better vocal work (though it's hard to think of a time when his vocals are not 'better'), and the songs intensity doesn't let up until the closing lines ("Anna Thema/I hear you screaming at the gate union in Hell not far away") at which point the album could end and I'd still give it a 10. But the band delivers even more.
And the closing “Stars and Clouds” is the only one of the band’s songs that can truly be considered ‘epic’ as far as song length goes at nine and a half minutes, and it’s grown on me to the point of becoming my vote for the best song on the album or by the band altogether. The first three minutes build a riff instrumentally, repeating it, building the song's atmosphere. When the singing begins, there are no screams throughout the song, no intense vocal work, but even in the gentlest tone, with the gentlest music on the album "Stars and Clouds" manages to be even more moving than anything else on the album. The second half of the second verse ("I walk the beach with him...") in particular nearly draws me to tears. About seven and a half minutes in, the band pulls out a short instrumental break, one of the best I know of. The final chorus brings the entire song to an emotional high, especially the final "never to forget what I know loving is" line, which then leads the song into a finish as peaceful as the entire song has been, maintaining the effective atmosphere. No other band like this has the ability to make such a sincere and stirring track, certainly one of the best I've ever heard in my life.
So there’s the album. Friction, the beginning of Stavesacre’s career, the career that would soon take them to greater heights. Even now I still consider this to be one of the best releases of the year -- and the decade. It’s a beautiful, powerful musical expression, one that I've been enjoying since its release. It's odd how the band can seem so unsure of their direction yet so confident of what they are doing all at once, but that's what's here. A hard rock release that remains pretty much unparalleled by anyone except Stavesacre themselves, since I've never seen anyone who can mix the aggressive and the beautiful as effortlessly and as well as they can.
It would be interesting where the band would eventually go with this sound. On the next album a lot of the heavier aspects are absent (the next reall all out rocking song the band would do would be "You Know How It Is" on Speakeasy), replaced by a lot more songs in the "Burning Clean" style. It's possible that the band saw this (correctly) as their strength, and pursued that direction. It's also possible that that's why Jeremy Moffett left. I'm not all that sure of what happened, but there was certainly a change between the two. Which makes me wonder why I don't consider Absolutes some huge improvement. The songwriting itself isn't so much a step up as it is the band doing what they seem more comfortable with.
So Friction is out of place in the band's history, and probably the least popular of their three, and I still wouldn't say that this is where to start with them. Bit if and when you decide to get the following two albums and enjoy those, do not hesitiate to pick up another rewarding listening experience. This album gave the band a small cult that would only build into a loyal fanbase with the next two albums. And as the band clearly demonstrates here, they deserve all the praise that they can get.
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(reviewed by Robert Grazer)
HIGH POINTS: The Two Heavens, Wither/Ascend, Acquiesce, Zzyzx Scarecrow, Colt .45, Sand Dollar, An Eclipsing. LOW POINTS: None.
Changes came for Stavesacre with their follow-up to Friction. Jeremy Moffet left the band and was replaced with Sam West, a drummer of similar style and equal talent. The music has also take a bit of a turn in a quieter direction. There are less all out rockers present, and those that are here are not nearly as intense as they were on the previous album. Now, originally this upset me, much in the same way Blackball's Hope upset me, since I was wanting a truly hard rock album, and was expecting something quite heavier. Not so this time. I was under the impression that Stavesacre were nothing more than a fantastic hard rock band, with three really great slower songs on the first album (er, actually I only thought that two of the great slower tunes on Friction were really great at the time. I hadn't come to fully appreciate "Stars and Clouds" yet).
I was pleased with the heavy opener "Shiv" and I'd already liked "Sand Dollar" and "An Eclipsing" from hearing them before I bought the album, but my first impression of some of the other masterpieces on this album was not a very good one. "Acquiesce," for example, disappointed me by being too soft and quiet after a delightfully heavy intro. I know there are still others who reject this album, people who want the band to all out rock, but that only happens in a few places here.
Things have changed, and now I believe that I owe Absolutes for letting me know that there is so much more to Stavesacre than just an exceptional hard rock band. There are so much more than just "melodic Tool" (though I'll still continue to refer to them that way, shame on me), and I wonder how many people actually understand that. I've read some fan criticisms that "Wither/Ascend" is too soft and the band should be more like "Threshold" or "Devil." Maybe that's why the next album, Speakeasy, had some more intense moments. I dunno. This isn't to say that there aren't a lot of intense moments on this album. It's just that these moments are different from the hardcore intensity that we've seen before. Now the band is putting out more emotionally intense songs. But there are a LOT of fans out there that feel that "Anna Thema" is Stavesacre's finest moment, and while I'll agree that it's one completely incredible song, it's still just a song, and not one of their works that cannot be classified as simply a song, and need to be taken to the next level.
Of course, I've never really conversed with a Stavesacre fan, so I'm not all that sure what to think that they think of them. I doubt I'm the only one who holds such feelings toward their music, but 90% of what I've heard people say about them is limited to either "They rock" or "They suck" with little explanation for either statement. If you look hard enough some e-zine or article might go a little more in depth, and I search for such things often, and when I find them I study them, compare their opinions to my own, and decide whether or not the points they make are good or not. But it's not often these articles disagree with my near-worshipping position. I guess that's why I'm writing this, to try to tell the world exactly why I think they rock (though I must again say that there is plenty more to them than just rock), and if you should try the band or album out and disagree with me you'll have an explanation to compare your own opinions to.
You should try out this album, though, because Absolutes is better than anything you could imagine. Ok, not anything, but as far as modern rock of any kind goes this album is second to Super Heavy Dreamscape as the best. That is if you want to call this an album. You should think of it more as a listening experience, and I know that might seem like a fancier way of saying the same thing to some, but it's not. The moods and feelings that Absolutes can create like no other makes it something that I think labelling as just an album would not do it justice. We're not just talking about a masterpiece here, we're talking about a Stavesacre masterpiece. And not only that, but this is THE Stavesacre masterpiece. I held Friction above it for oh so long, but I've finally come to realize that, while nothing on this album can quite match the brilliance of the three best tracks from Friction, this album overall is a more powerful statement, a statement that they haven't topped yet, and I doubt they ever will.
Absolutes was also a step forward for the band in terms of lyricism. Friction's lyrics were certainly good, but in some places a little weak, and nothing compare to what we have here. Each song provides a picture, or tells a story, or describes a feeling or event with clarity, deeply getting the massage across. The Christianity is more apparent here than on the debut, but they still aren't down on the level or most CCM bands. After all, there are plenty of ways to say "I love God" or "Thank you God" than actually using those exact words to say them. And one thing I've liked about Stavesacre is that they don't even deal with simple subject like these. Mark Salmon writes and sings about deeper subject, not just generic praise and worship lyrics set to rock music. In some places the lyrics can be quite dark, occasionally a tad violent, but ultimately never glorifying anything other than God, but doing so in such a way that it isn't hard at all for those who don't share their beliefs to appreciate as well.
Indeed some of my all-time favorite lyrics can be found here (actually to find the lyrics sheet you'll have to look behind the part of the case that holds the CD. I don't know why they put the sheet there, they did the same thing with on Friction, but only with "Devil" that time. Interesting.), as well as some of my all-time favorite vocal work. Sure Salmon proved that he's the greatest vocalist ever with Friction, but here he, just like the music, has expanded far beyond just hard rock vocals. He did have the gentler tones he used a lot in places like the middle section of "Threshold" or the beginning of "At The Moment" or all of "Stars And Clouds," but now he's presenting the music and lyrics like never before. He's the one who's telling the tales and describing the feelings, and he just does it so incredibly well.
Oh and the cover art is exceptional as well. It sets the mood just like the covers to the other albums do, but here it's done in a much more interesting way, one that's effective even when I'm not about to put the album in. It's one of my favorite covers, the painting being quite pretty when you look at it the right way. A couple other paintings are within the pages, with samples of the lyrics to a few of the songs at the side. And on the CD itself we get to learn the definition of stavesacre, which, unless your a botanist you may not know. It's some poisonous plant, just in case you wanted to know.
Now let's get on to some songs. This time song lengths range from about two minutes to six and a half, but everything seems right, never too short or too long. We open up with a rocking moment in "Shiv," which lyrically begins what can be considered almost a theme to the album. The them is rebirth and shedding ones old ways, described as shedding one's skin by the song. It starts out with hard-hitting drums from the new drummer, Sam West, who is already showing us what he's capable of. He gives the song the harder feel to it, but never lets things run away. The song never loses sight of the main melody, and in just over a couple minutes it still manages to make a major impact with the listener.
Then we start to hit the quieter parts of the album, with "Sand Dollar," certainly a song written while Salmon was visiting the ocean. Such lyrics as "The sun, the air, the faithful crashing of waves remind me of a child that I'd to be again." And Salmon sings the lines beautifully, making them truly come alive with a true sincerity to them. Despite being quieter the song still moves along at a good pace, displaying a uplifting mood of hope in such a way to be cherished. It's another short song, but still feels absolutely complete, and the melody fits the message perfectly.
Stavesacre's done only one true epic song (the nine minute "Stars And Clouds"), but also a lot of mini-epics of only about five or six or so minutes in length. Absolutes has four such songs, the first of which is the nearly six minute "Colt .45," another one of the heavier rocking entries on the album, but only toward the climax. The verses are incredibly gentle, built around a simple bass line, and move smoothly toward heaviness, building up with every chorus. When the climax does hit Salmon is letting out his emotional screams like nothing else, and Sam West delivers possibly his defining moment backing the song with pounding drums and incredible rolls. It's a fantastic song, one of the best on the album.
"Inclusive" which starts out with another great showing of Sam West's drumming, and it gives a little bit of a rock out, but my favorite moment in the song is when it switches into a completely gentle section with just simple chords as Salmon sings "deep unto deep" right before the end. Yeah, it's good to have a band around nowadays that knows when it's time to rock out and when it's time to slow down. Too many get caught up in just one or the other, and end up either annoying or boring. Though "Inclusive" has never really been one of my favorite songs here. I enjoy it a great deal, but it's just never moved me like some of the others here do. I'd never dismiss it as filler, but it just ranks low on my list of great Stavesacre songs. It's still a great song, though.
Then, finally, the album delivers the first entry that is more than just a great song, it's a downright perfect one. "Wither/Ascend" continues the little theme of shedding the skin in a much prettier way than before with a beautiful melody on the guitar, and the beginning "Wither" section is actually sung by guitarist Jeff Bellew as well. It is quite a change, and he certainly doesn't match up to Mark Salmon's vocals, but it really works for the best in the end. I find his questioning voice to be quite moving at times, and sometimes I can think that he was the one that needed to sing the song. It just wasn't written for Mark's vocals.
The song slowly drifts off into a peaceful solo before the music gets heavy for a moment to connect it to the "Ascend" section where everything mellows out once more into a very simple melody in the same style as "Burning Clean" before, as Salmon reclaims the vocals and makes the song truly soar through the air. The lyrics are so similar to the mood as well. Lines like "watch me fly..." or "freedom my wings..." might seem kinda corny just written here, but that's the power of a great vocalist, he can make it seem real and down to earth, nothing that sounds laughable at all. It's a state of complete beauty, done the way that only Stavesacre can deliver. It's a great example of what they are able to do with only a few simple melodies, achieve perfection.
Harder territory is again approached in the intro to the following "Acquiesce," a more emotionally intense entry rather than truly peaceful. the biggest advantage the song has is the lyrics which are just as deep as ever, and possibly Mark Salmon's defining performance. Everything about his voice, the peace, the sadness, the cries, are all here and done just as great as ever, as he truly shows what he can do. The song is a mere four minutes, but it all works well, though at one point I didn't think so. I was too hungry for more to be completely satisfied, but if the album is taken as a whole, the way it should be, "Acquiesce" fits in perfectly. I also think it's interesting that the lyrics use both the terms "at the moment" and "burning clean," both of which were songs from the last album. Hmmm.
"An Eclipsing" was the first song I ever heard from the album, built around a very simple beat, but once again the band is working well together, and the lyrics carry the song to it's finish. Hey, let's talk about the lyrics for a moment. The message in the song might be a bit hard to decode, but it's mostly about the way the Christian Church sometimes searches for the wrong in people just to point it out and reject them (I think). There's a music video for this song, and it's mostly just shots of the band singing, but there's also some random shots of some green guy who it trapped by this layer of plastic and trying to get out of this water thing. I think it explains the meaning of the song somehow. To tell you the truth I was never that good at understanding music videos, nor do I like them very much, but I like the shots of the band performing in this one.
And then a beautiful guitar line begins "The Two Heavens," another little mini-epic, but it's presented in quite a big way. It's about temptation, it's about the evil in disguise, it's about overcoming that evil, and it's a powerful little tale. Salmon sings it telling the story, but it seems more like he truly becomes the character, fighting his desire to return to "between the two heavens," the evil personified as nothing more specific as "she" and "her" begging him to return. And the music matches the lyrics yet again. It's built around several different sections, each one matching the story as the main character is being torn apart. the song reaches quieter thoughts ("I've known a life without her/at every turn she's there") until the climax to the song is reached, the guitars building up more and more, and the song and story reach a great finish. If you haven't guessed it already this is (with "Wither/Ascend" coming close) the best song on Absolutes.
After something like that a break is well-needed. What could be better at this point (especially when the album is on the threshold of another intense and truly dark close) than a soft, gentle reprise of "Wither" to cool things down? It's kind of funny how doing the same thing on an album twice and calling it a reprise can have such fine results. Jeff Bellew takes the vocals again, speaking now of the scars that "wake me up to bleed again" and such, but the mood of the music is still not depressing, but truthful and silent.
To close Absolutes off we receive the masterpiece of "Zzyzx Scarecrow," the darkest Stavesacre song yet, no doubt, as it's about the wrath of God being poured out over the earth, and just a brief glimpse of the suffering, and the corruption that caused it. It's another shorter story being told, but while it is told in first person, it's mostly vivid observations, violent at times, but it seems all necessary to finish the album. Musically it's another winner, intense throughout, providing more powerful screams and more building guitar lines. Yep, that's the way to finish off an album like this.
And what an album this is. Absolutes is the only real challenger (well, ok, on some days Crimson as well) I know of to Super Heavy Dreamscape's position as the best album of the 90s, as even then there's so much that Absolutes has that Dreamscape doesn't. Overall this probably has the more powerful highs, but I dunno, it overall just doesn't quite have the same effect on me that Dreamscape does. But it comes oh so close to it. Absolutes is a unique and powerful experience, one that I couldn't imagine my life without.
It's also interesting, though, that for a band so often compared to Tool, Absolutes proves that Stavesacre are much more than that, something that Friction couldn't quite do. Sure it was still a near-perfect release, but there were only a few areas where the band's true style could be seen, and some of the harder moments ("Devil" especially) might have fit well on a Tool release. Sure overall Stavesacre proved to the more melodic of the two, but it's here where Stavesacre can no longer be classified as just a melodic version of Tool (though I still call them "melodic Tool," shame on me). Now they've moved beyond being just a hard rock band into their own style, one that people will never be able to completely understand or identify.
I guess that about all I've got to say. I'm sorry this review turned out so long, but I guess it just goes to show how much I can go on and on when it comes to this band. If you want I can try hard to be objective and attempt to point out some flaws on this album. So, er, well, maybe it isn't as diverse as it could be, but I never minded lack of diversity unless it's like Reign In Blood lack of diversity in which case I get bored to death. As I pointed out before that's just the way they are. If you don't like it you might want to try The White Album instead. And as I also mentioned in the introduction this isn't a technically impressive band or album either, so buy something by The Mahavishnu Orchestra if you're disappointed from that aspect. Other than that, I can't think of any other real flaw. Of course, the only complaints that I ever see concerning the band and album are simple, as I said before, like "they suck" or "boring." If you know of any please send in a comment here. I really need to hear someone intelligent bash this band. As for now, anyway, I'll continue loving Absolutes and hope that you take the time to discover it as well.
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released by Stavesacre/Denison Marrs
(reviewed by Robert Grazer)
HIGH POINTS: The Denison Marrs songs. LOW POINTS: The Stavesacre songs
Split EPs are a bad idea. In fact, the only reason they're ever made is to either make fans of one band aware of a second or help an artist's transition to another record company. I'm not really sure what the case is with this one (I'd never heard of Denison Marrs before this, and this was released on Velvet Blue music rather than Stavesacre's original record label, Tooth and Nail), but it comes as a great disappointment to me. I mean first of all I've waited for two years for my favorite modern band to release some new material, and all I get are three songs and a grand total of about twelve minutes of music. I don't mind the two year wait if they're about to release a 50+ minute masterpiece in Speakeasy, but two years on one half of an EP? That fact right there comes as a disappointment.
But what's even worse is that the music on here isn't even that good. The band seems to be continuing the more commercial end of Speakeasy (the first three songs), but without the success that they had before. Now part of this is due to the production of the EP, which seems for some reason to be quite unfinished, and it hurts not to have the overall clear sound that they had before when they were on Tooth and Nail. The entire mix on Split EP (for the Stavesacre songs, at least) is muddy and jumbled, to the point that they make Mark Salmon sound real weak. It's that bad.
Of the three actual songs, "Night Town" (which reminds me, all lyrical talent seems to be shot to hell) is probably the best, with a somewhat melodic chorus and catchy verses. "Island" is a completely mediocre entry, the only annoying thing being Mark's vocals on the chorus, and "Sad Parade" is the worst song they've done yet (in fact it's the only bad song they've done), with a completely unmemorable chorus that I'll try to sing for you now: "The saaaaaaaaad paraaaade is cooooooooooooming!" Eh, not quite annoying enough. Maybe I'll try again later. The point is that if this had been my introduction to Stavesacre (instead of Friction) I would never have listened to them again, and never known of the three masterpieces they released in the late 90s.
As for the Denison Marrs stuff, well, I was quite surprised that in nearly every way it's better than the three Stavesacre songs (except maybe the lyrics). It's not very original at all, but their songs are quite melodic and more or less interesting. Especially "The New Droan," which seems to succeed in producing the style of music Stavesacre were attempting to create. It's accessible, catchy, with a great little guitar riff and memorable chorus. Good song. Not what I expected at all when I first put this on. Some stupid band I've never heard of beating Stavesacre to the ground? I guess it could happen. Especially in the direction they've been headed.
I guess that's all you can say about this thing. It's a huge disappointment for me, especially coming from a band I like as much as Stavesacre. They say their next release is going to a retrospective album featuring a few alternate versions of a few songs from Speakeasy. I sure hope it will be better than this but I'm still sort of wondering when the band will release another full length album rather than stalling with these little releases. Maybe next year...
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