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Lorien - Esque

Rating

RIYL

Muse
The Dear Hunter
Future of Forestry

Release Date

02/28/2009

Tracklist

1. Taking On
2. Sowing Bad Seeds
3. Do the Regret
4. Shine Alone
5. The Snake Or the Charmer
6. We Speak In Smiles and Waves
7. Make the Deadeye Miss
8. Pick It Up Slow
9. Let It Go
10. Measurements
11. Breaker Breaker
12. A Mess Needs A Room

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Recent Ratings
xRinox	Rick Gebhardt

Nashville, Tennessee’s Lórien like to share. They share a musically fertile hometown with countless other monumental big-name acts. They share a name with 5 other known bands with styles ranging from goth metal to progressive rock. They share a dynamic sound with high-flying alternative prodigies Muse that will forever categorize them. And it’s not that sharing is necessarily a bad thing. However overdone this Muse-y sound is, this year’s Lórien full length Esque is still all about gigantic passages and glorious choruses that are guaranteed crowd-pleasers.

“The Snake Or the Charmer” is perhaps the album’s centerpiece, scornfully advising the intended recipient of its lyrics to, “Stay the hell away,” amidst its beautiful harmonic flair. Chief vocalist Kaleb Jones’ towering delivery is arrogant, seducing, and altogether laudable. The chemistry between the vocals and tightly produced instrumental sections is remarkably strong, allowing hypnotizing numbers like “The Snake Or the Charmer” and “Pick It Up Slow” to exist.

Missteps are held at a minimum on Esque, provided the been-there-done-that factor is overlooked. We are given “Do The Regret,” however, which drips painfully of pretentious character and simply tries too hard to keep up with the rest of the album’s mystical overtone. “Tell the boys and girls to start learning the steps / Come on, come on let’s all do the regret,” is the band’s attempted connection between remorse and the dance motif laid over another gorgeous harmonic melody, but the effort runs sour and the well-constructed verse is wasted.

Some avid rummaging needs to be done to find fault in the remaining 11 tracks. Opponents of the genre’s climbing harmonies and epic instrumentation will likely write Esque off as “simply boring” as Lórien most certainly shy away from bringing anything novel to the table. Yet as musical history teaches, sometimes the best comes not from evolving but by simply perfecting what already is. Esque can hardly be called “the best,” but the band’s knack for sharing (or borrowing for that matter) musical ideas most definitely works for the better here.

--Matthew Tsai