Light Bearer – Silver Tongue

Light Bearer were announced about an year after the demise of Fall Of Efrafa. Back then we were offered a brand new band, but still we were quite convinced with such an influential ideologist as Alex Efrafa, even a new entity would surely retain bits and pieces of the old FOE spirit.

And indeed the Light Bearer debut Lapsus felt somehow close to Fall Of Efrafa (plus a cello). Later on the band went through some line-up adjustments, and released a split with Northless, followed by the ten-minute single Beyond The Infinite: The Assembly Of God. Both releases  introduced minor, but audible changes creeping and modifying into the sound of the band, most importantly through the usage of additional vocals, and the more significant usage of soundscapes. It was becoming clear, that Light Bearer are going somewhere where Fall of Efrafa hadn’t been.

After more than two months of playing Silver Tongue I have to admit the new Light Bearer record is nothing, but an immense, even extraordinary leap for the band, reached through innovative song-writing, outstanding sound engineering and a great attention to small, but extremely sensible details. Everything Alex and company have recorded so far is a mere shadow of what have they become in Silver Tongue. The record is a proof of a tight and thorough collective work. The music here is still based on monumentalism and repetition, but everything above this solid foundation has changed in a very subtle, yet sufficiently noticable manner. The new pieces are so detailed and considered; with complexity coming from the small details and changes, which are eating you for it looks so difficult, almost impossible to examine and craft music on such a micro level.

There are few great changes in the new Light Bearer, and the first of them is the rhythm section. I’m sure all journalists and hardcore kids, who were so far easily putting the band in the neo-crust/post-metal boundaries will now have some hard time categorizing the record for its diverse drumming, the surprising presence of fast outbursts and tempo-switches who haven’t been used on a such degree by the band until now. Other breathtaking details, not only introduced but already mastered here, are the melodic vocals and clean parts. I’ve always thought of Light Bearer as a storyteller, placed somewhere in the abstract. An entity to be only observed, listened to, and not interacted with. However this new sound plan, adds an unexpectedly warm sense of intimacy, making your times with the record more emotional and sincere. Not to mention the effect of this brand new sense of closure combined with Alex’s outstanding writing.

Without a doubt my favorite new feature of this record is the immense presence of soundscapes. The whole record is soaked in atmospheres, drones and hundreds of ethereal subtle sounds. They add a third layer to the record, which unlike any other similar examples is by no means an additional one. The ambience here is a full-scale and lively sound entity, incorporated really skillfully and organically in the whole instrumental picture.

Even sound-wise Silver Tongue is beyond everything I’ve heard from this collective so far. It’s a bit scary how high it sets the bar not only for the followers of the band, but for their own upcoming outcome. Still, I don’t really want to think about Light Bearer’s future endeavours as I have a lot more months to spend in Silver Tongue. Oh, and about the lyrics and album artworks? Well, I don’t even need to mention them, you’ve all witnessed Alex’s work already. If not, I don’t really know what you’ve been doing for the last seven years.