Album Review: The Felix Culpa - Sever Your Roots
'Sever Your Roots' is the latest offering from Illinois based post-hardcore, prog indie rockers The Felix Culpa. This really is an epic record and it’s easy to understand why it took 3 years to make.Track one 'New Home Life' is one of those tracks initially you might skip, but when you go back to it you’ll realise how beautifully and sombre it is, and you’ll appreciate the effect it has on the rest of the album.
'Our Holy Ghosts' demonstrates their use of dynamics, which help to create immense dramatic effect throughout this entire song. It is perfectly constructed and has so many great moments, my favourite being the unison vocal line; “To be in love with love is not enough, this time” which is sung over and over, which builds each bar with extra instrumentation and drum breaks to a huge crescendo.
Each song leads into the next perfectly and I think it probably took them a year to get the track listing just so. I love the ambience of the recordings and the style reminds me of Brand New's production on 'Daisy'; in fact the guitar tones are very similar. They are quite comparable to Brand New in a lot of ways, but that said I feel they have enough of their own unique ideas to set them apart.
'Escape To The Mountains' is genius, the lyrics are amazing and flow perfectly in the song, my favourite line being “Theres no substance in our voices except for what were drinking” Each line is sung with such passion and vigour, this is real music. The guitar solo before the last chorus is minimalist and really complements the chord progression and song flawlessly.
'What You Call Thought Control' is progressive and includes some really nice drum beat chops, which sound technically brilliant. The guitar work on the album is really unique and truly inspirational.
This album is packed full of those hair standing on end moments and I have merely scratched the surface, so please if your into dynamic and ambient post-hardcore you have to check this album out!
5/5
'Sever Your Roots' by The Felix Culpa is available now on vinyl, thorugh Youth Conspiracy Records.
The CD and digital version is available through the band's official website.
Myspace
Purevolume
Ben Bridges
