Artist: Mesa Verde
Album: Amor Fati
Label: Art For Blind Records
Year: 2005
Tracklist
01.Clarity With Distance
02.Substance Abuse
03.Untitled
04.MRB
05.Dance Dance Dance
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Hailing from the heart of Scotland, Mesa Verde are here with their debut EP 'Amor Fati' to give us a taste of just how good experimental music can sound when it's produced in the right way. They're the sort of band that is hard to categorise or pigeonhole, yet their influences are obvious, ranging from prog-rock, to metal, to good old fashioned hardcore. In this 24-minute EP, we're given a taste of exactly what the band is made of.
The introduction to 'Clarity with distance' is a misleading excerpt that takes influence from prog-rock heroes Tool, before descending into madness. Fortunately, it's the organised kid of madness that makes for pleasant hearing. Sounding like a b-side of some kind of Thursday/Poison the Well supergroup hybrid, it's a well structured piece that utilises some great guitar and drum work to create an epic sound. 'Substance Abuse' is something of a let down after the first track, as the ghostly progressive sound is replaced by the more straight-up hardcore elements. While not being a bad song itself, it's by far the weakest here. Following this is a sort of prelude to the following track which allows us to hear the gentler side of Mesa Verde. Sounding like a live recording, it demonstrates the band's compositional ability, before we are hit with 'Dance Dance Dance'. The aforementioned serves as a brilliant contrast to the instrumental interlude, as it returns back to the heavier side of things, with some pretty experimental drumbeats throughout, and a definite structure proving hard to pinpoint. Not that this is a negative point though - when music like this is done wrong, it ends up sounding crap, cheesy and rushed. Fortunately Mesa Verde gets it spot on and proves they have the talent to pull these kinds of songs off.
Ending on a colossal 11-minute journey without a name is the finest idea this band have offered on this 4-track EP. There really are bits of everything thrown in here, and it's the sort of idea that shouldn't work at all, but it just does. Pulling together all their influences, they manage to have created a track which sounds entirely unique in today's musical landscape, and serves as a well overdue piece of refreshment from the copycat bands polluting our venues and labels. I'd like to see this band make a name for themselves, as 'Amor Fati' is actually a great record, but because it's so unconventional, so experimental and ultimately so varied; I struggle to see this happening. - Punktastic
Myspace
Official Site
The introduction to 'Clarity with distance' is a misleading excerpt that takes influence from prog-rock heroes Tool, before descending into madness. Fortunately, it's the organised kid of madness that makes for pleasant hearing. Sounding like a b-side of some kind of Thursday/Poison the Well supergroup hybrid, it's a well structured piece that utilises some great guitar and drum work to create an epic sound. 'Substance Abuse' is something of a let down after the first track, as the ghostly progressive sound is replaced by the more straight-up hardcore elements. While not being a bad song itself, it's by far the weakest here. Following this is a sort of prelude to the following track which allows us to hear the gentler side of Mesa Verde. Sounding like a live recording, it demonstrates the band's compositional ability, before we are hit with 'Dance Dance Dance'. The aforementioned serves as a brilliant contrast to the instrumental interlude, as it returns back to the heavier side of things, with some pretty experimental drumbeats throughout, and a definite structure proving hard to pinpoint. Not that this is a negative point though - when music like this is done wrong, it ends up sounding crap, cheesy and rushed. Fortunately Mesa Verde gets it spot on and proves they have the talent to pull these kinds of songs off.
Ending on a colossal 11-minute journey without a name is the finest idea this band have offered on this 4-track EP. There really are bits of everything thrown in here, and it's the sort of idea that shouldn't work at all, but it just does. Pulling together all their influences, they manage to have created a track which sounds entirely unique in today's musical landscape, and serves as a well overdue piece of refreshment from the copycat bands polluting our venues and labels. I'd like to see this band make a name for themselves, as 'Amor Fati' is actually a great record, but because it's so unconventional, so experimental and ultimately so varied; I struggle to see this happening. - Punktastic
Myspace
Official Site
![Album Cover](https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2004055548_10.jpg")
![Album Cover](https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3908647420_10.jpg")
![Album Cover](https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0968664813_10.jpg")
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