Ancestors
In Dreams And Time

Clever name, clever cover art, marketed as a progressive metal band, this could be interesting could have been my first thoughts in regards to this album. This is an album that has spun in my player for 23 times now according to pietunes, something that ought to indicate that I know the album rather well by now since these plays has been during the latest two weeks as well. These ancestors are of american descent and they have before this one released two albums which would make this the third, I also noticed while researching this band that the earlier albums I noticed were rather well received and that doom/stoner was mentioned a bit. I am no good in categorising music as it is more of a feeling and an adventure than something quantifiable for me anyway, but that is what others say so for helping you pinpoint somewhat I could put it here.

There are a few things that become apparent rather quickly when you listen to this album, one is the atmospheric sense that run through the entire album giving it a sense of adventure. Another thing is the long tracks, you will reflect on this while listening because it is hard to miss, the average playing time of the tracks is staggering, over ten minutes, on average. There are six tracks on the album and the playing time is 66 minutes and only one track is shorter than nine minutes and three play for longer than ten. So the long song box is clearly ticked for these guys, the sound is good providing this atmosphere so I must say that the production is a high class one. Another thing you will reflect upon while listening to this album is how sparse the vocals are used, sure there are vocals and quite a bit of them but it still feels like the songs are more focused on instrumental parts than the vocals. It gives a touch of a post metal feel, that is if I have understood that term correctly which I may not have done.

At first glance it would seem as though this band was looking to create a work of adventure and escapism because it has some great atmospheres but that’s just scratching the surface because when looking beneath it feels as though there is nothing but this atmosphere and the great adventure becomes more of a desert hike at sunset, you know the style. The music is slow and the only thing you really bother with is the atmosphere because I still cannot really recollect much else from this album despite having heard it over 20 times in a limited period of time and that is surely not what great music does. I would say though that it is great as one thing, music to have in the background while doing chores, or riding a lift, polishing your windows or painting a green wall. Somehow though I doubt that this band was really looking to be a good source of background music, but that is what they are great at. Sure they are not a bad band in any way and I think their music is decent enough, but it lacks that bit extra that makes a band great.

It may sound as though I am a bit harsh on these ancestors but that is really not the case, I think they have managed to create a great atmosphere of slow moving musical equivalents of sand dunes at sunset, they have created a canvas with a fantastic background and colour, the only problem with this album is that there is nothing going on amongst the fantastic looking dunes or on the canvas, nothing happens and that is what prevents this album being a great album and demotes it into a background music album. I do actually think that this is something that the Schindler group might look into for their next projects.