Customer Reviews

Suzume: 13 Japanese Birds, Vol. 1

5 star:		(4)
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If you are acquainted with other Holy sons records as I am, you will recognize many familiar themes, moods and subject matter. But this record is far and away the most listenable coherent Pink Floyd-esque of all the other albums. It is at least half-full of instrumental sonic dream/nightmare scapes. It feels like it could be the soundtrack to a paranoid art house film or a extreme snow boarding movie. I have been listening to this album in my car driving around Alaska for weeks over and over .... Best complete album ever!

Well, considering both of the previous reviews relate to a Merzbow album that has nothing to do with this excellent Holy Sons effort, I thought I would toss in my two cents. I would suggest jumping on anything even remotely related to the band Grails. Emil Amos (aka the one-man-studio-band Holy Sons), and Zak Riles have both released excellent solo work, and Grails has put out more masterful albums than I can count.

This album varies greatly from Holy Sons' 2 most recent records, "I Want to Live a Peaceful Life" and "Decline of the West." Although the experimental qualities were present on those two as well, "Drifter's Sympathy" pushes that envelope much further. The opening track, "Snowed In," is the best evidence of this. Very reminiscent of Grails' Black Tar Prophecies material, its dark and droning sounds set the mood for an epic work that sounds like the soundtrack to a bad case of Edgar Allen Poe's writer's block. Tense, and yet at ease with its own tension, the album moves forward slowly but surely. "More Mind Briars" is probably the album's highlight, in which Amos declares, "I'm wasting my time..." Yet over the top of the stoic undertones, the track soars, and lifts the album to new heights. The most interesting part of Holy Sons' work is the stark contrast between what the music sounds like, and what the lyrics (when they're present) actually say. Irony at its best, and Holy Sons doesn't get much better than this. Highly recommended.

just for the sake of clarity,, this CD is not related to Merzbow in any way.... this is the new Holy Sons disc.

Merzbow is an acquired taste. Snythesized layers of throbbing distortion, and anything else he can get his hands on, are cut into fat dripping slabs and released on disk for the past - oh almost 30 years. But this time, the drums carry the show. A talented drummer can make damned near anything bleed with real shocking life. And the drummer is no slouch.
If you've been wondering about Merzbow or Acid noise rock, or industrial noise rock, or whatever the kids want to call this offering - this is a nice place to start. Jarring, soothing, and entirely songless sounds.