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AN EMERALD CITY : The Fourth

There are some aspects of metal’s ambient side here, the textures, the moods – but it would be unfair to call this a metal album, not that there’s anything wrong with metal, it’s just that An Emerald City goes deeper and certainly wider. Once again there’s a cinematic impact that comes with listening to the band’s recorded work, but this sophomore album feels a lot bigger and broader than ‘Circa Scaria’. That was a great record but the world music feel, the Middle-Eastern flavours and gypsy elements meant that it could have been written off by some as bordering on kebab-shop rock. No chance here. This Auckland band is now truly a global unit, living a lot of the time in Berlin (where this album was recorded). An Emerald City has mastered the undulating melodies, giving a veracity that some post-rock jam-bands lack. That’s not to call them a post-rock jam-band by the way, although, again, there are elements. Elements are key to this band’s sound – the fact that one minute it is a world music band, then it’s post-rock, then it’s metal, then it’s folk-ish. At times it feels like a documentary soundtrack to an unreleased – or as yet unreleased film. All of these things are good; all of this is positive. This album is incredible.

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