Pet Slimmers Of The Year - Fragments Of Uniforms - Album Review

Pet Slimmers Of The Year

Fragments Of Uniforms

Anchor Music
Released: Early 2014

The members are:

Gowan
Vinten
McKenna

Track Listing:

1. Arterias
2. Gathering Half the Deep and Full of Voices 

3. Tides 

4. Mare Imbrium
5. Churning of the Sea of Milk
6. Days Since I Disappeared
7. Fragments
8. La Tormenta

Running Time: 54 mins 32 seconds

Post-rock can be a tricky thing. It's a genre both boasting a wealth of talented bands and inventive musicianship while also being steadily bogged down by a host of copycats and bandwagon-jumpers, offering little to no originality in their music and appearing content in recycling the same, tired formula and ideas.

Pet Slimmers of the Year are a band from Peterborough, England and are no strangers to this blog. Formed in 2008 and having since released two EPs - the self titled Pet Slimmers of the Year in 2009 and 2010s ...And the Sky Fell, both of which were met with some fanfare here at The Sludgelord, they are finally set to release their debut full-length album which is scheduled to drop this winter. PSOTY are a band that are maybe not exactly reinventing the wheel, but are more than bringing enough to the table to warrant a place in any post-rock fans collection. That's for sure.

From the very first track of Fragments of Uniforms entitled Arterias, the gentle progression of the bands blend of post-rock and atmospheric sludge metal is clear, as the steady but thunderous drumming and the delicate instrumentation builds, the weight of the slowly layered guitar lines becomes more aggressive and the mood grows darker throughout the first half of the record. The subtlety of the progression in the tone and the gradual crescendo of intensity climaxes with the track Churning of the Sea of Milk which explodes immediately into a dose of riff-heavy, down-tempo sludge metal. A track that offers several changes in pace and a trading of the trademark light and dark of the elegant post-rock and the ugly sludge riffs, before the listener is again dragged back into the gentle nature of its smooth and refined soundscapes with the aid of some sparingly used and droning vocal harmonies. 

Most post-rock bands out there, of course, indulge in the minimalist, gradual build-up in their sound that the genre has become known for but with such an often-replicated and recycled formula, it is easy for a record to lose its direction. This record offers exactly what I believe a post-rock or post-metal album should offer. Both a light, easy and relaxing option for background music, and an album that only reveals it's real complexity when afforded a persons full attention. 

Fragments of Uniforms is a very precisely structured, intelligently crafted record and certainly benefits from repeated listens.

Written by Neil Ainger

Fragments of Uniforms will be available to buy early 2014. If you can't wait till then the band have about 9 copies left of their CD here. As they printed a limited edition batch of CD's before the release date. I bought my copy. And it's a truly breathtaking album.

Check The Band From Links Below:

Facebook

BandCamp

Bigcartel

Headover to their BandCamp Page to download their earlier excellent EP's for free.