- Country: United States
- Style: Stoner rock / Progressive rock
- Label: Armageddon Shop / Stickman Records
- Release date: 27 February 2015
Five songs, an hour of music, and not a minute of it wasted. Lore is the record where Elder stopped being a very good stoner band and became something harder to file. The fuzz is still there, but the songs are built in movements now, riffs handing over to clean, ringing guitar passages that feel closer to seventies prog than to anything with a bong on the cover.
“Compendium” sets the tone: Thin Lizzy-style twin harmonies over a rhythm section that never sits still, Jack Donovan’s bass doing as much melodic work as the guitars. “Legend” pushes the same idea further, and then the title track takes nearly sixteen minutes to go everywhere at once, swelling into a huge, almost orchestral middle section before the riff comes crashing back. Nick DiSalvo is not a showy singer, and he doesn’t need to be; his voice sits inside the mix like another instrument.
The closing “Spirit at Aphelion” is the quiet killer, with acoustic guitars opening up into one of the most uplifting finales any heavy band put out that year. The production is clean enough that every layer breathes, which only makes the heavy parts land harder. Put this on headphones and let it run start to finish. That’s the only way it makes sense, and it makes a lot of sense.
Best tracks:
Compendium
Legend
Lore
Spirit at Aphelion
Author’s rating: 9.2/10
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