Review / 200 Words Or Less
A Death Cinematic
A Parable on the Aporia of Vengeance and the Beauty of Impenetrable Sadness

Limited to a number of 250, A Death Cinematic's most recent release features two discs and impeccable packaging. Comparisons can easily be made to certain output by A Silver Mt. Zion or Godspeed You! Black Emperor, but A Death Cinematic's sound is someplace else. It is distant, eerie, and always brooding. The long song titles such as "Their Blood Crawls Through Frozen Fields and Dead Nights" and "Onward (As the Vultures Take the Sky) We Slip into the Apocalypse," remind me of Red Sparowes and their albums' extended themes. Each of the two discs contains over forty minutes of music, which is sadly ambient. Sometimes it is grating, but sometimes it is quiet and fading. All in all, it is apparent that A Death Cinematic hopes to join the ranks of atmospheric/instrumental icons.

Every once in a long while there comes a release which takes several listens to sink in to one's thick skull (particularly my hard head can take time), but once that record sinks in, the record not only makes complete sense, but it seems to become a favorite release. Upon first listening to the latest release from A Death Cinematic, A Parable on the Aporia of Vengeance and the Beauty of Impenetrable Sadness, there was an overwhelming feeling with the immensity of this release; comprising two CDs housed in hand assembled packaging, the record is full of instrumental musical pieces with monstrously long titles (which rival the length of some of the song titles of Red Sparowes) that take time and attention in order to appreciate this release from A Death Cinematic.

From the gentle plucking and numbing droning of "A Short Story on the Theme of a Broken Dream" to the eerie melodies of the lengthy "The Grasses Will Grow Tall Over Our Cities," A Death Cinematic crafts a sonic journey unlike many others as the droning melodies seemingly tell a story over the course of the two CDs that make this album. The album definitely gives listeners the ability to get lost in its swelling sounds and numbing atmosphere; there are moments when listening to the record where four or five songs have passed and others where the same song is still playing (I would chalk that up to time having no meaning while the record is playing, but others might not think so). There is definitely an exploration of dichotomies of loud and soft, delicate and robust, and even melody versus harsh noise; and it is these juxtapositions which definitely add elements of variation as well as propelling the album along its course.

When my brother originally brought A Death Cinematic to my attention, I had no idea what he was showing me nor what kind of impact A Parable on the Aporia of Vengeance and the Beauty of Impenetrable Sadness would have on me; initially, I thought it was good but did not quite strike me as amazing. Once, I sat down and really digested the whole release from the hand assembled packaging that obviously was lovingly crafted to the strange and mysteriously engrossing sounds that engulfed my ears, just how good the album was dawned on me; and subsequent listening sessions also reveal new intricacies and layers of sound that I had previously missed. An excellent record that more people should jump on getting, but do so quickly as A Parable on the Aporia of Vengeance and the Beauty of Impenetrable Sadness is limited to 250 copies.