Day: January 12, 2017

The Viterbo-based The Chasing Monster are a recently formed band and, despite this, have already significantly changed their approach compared to their beginnings. From the post-hardcore tendencies enclosed in the self-titled ep of 2014 they come, in fact, with this first full length, to explore post rock territories with a mainly instrumental structure, but enriched by the use of spoken word. In the case of Tales, the guys from Lazio go even further, offering, in addition to the standard version, also the extended version that bears the subtitle Today, Our Last Day On Earth, in which the various tracks are linked to each other by a story that tells, in fact, the last stages of the earthly existence of the two protagonists. An operation, this, which fits perfectly to the style of The Chasing Monster, authors of over forty minutes of music full of poetry and always pervaded, at the same time, by a melancholy background that flows frequently in passages of great emotional impact; I personally consider a song like The Porcupine Dilemma a real masterpiece, which has the only defect, paradoxically, to obscure with its poignant and dramatic beauty other songs of higher than average level as Itai, La Costante and Today, Our Last Day On Earth. I don’t know if the band has completely the perception of the capacity of such a work, also because, operating in a country with a relative receptivity for everything that is not of immediate fruition, there is the risk of underestimating its own potential, being content with that minimum union of consents that in our parts appears already a relevant result for those who operate outside the mainstream. I open this front reconnecting myself to the presence of Theodore Freidolph, guitarist of Acres, as a guest in the song La Costante: the British group, active for longer time and proponent of a form of post rock certainly more affordable, in the country enjoys a deserved consensus but that, if you compare it to that of The Chasing Monster, seems disproportionate to the value of the two bands, a sign that the problem is obviously all Italian. That’s why I call for the maximum attention and support, from all the insiders, towards the band from Lazio: ours is a small webzine, active only since a few months in an autonomous way and consequently able to reach a still limited number of people, but I hope that my words are a stimulus to someone of much more weight, so that it pushes a wider audience to enjoy this wonderful work. Tales, despite its clearly instrumental propensity, escapes the drawbacks that the solution in the long run may involve, thanks to the inclusion of spoken words that, while not replacing the sung parts, give the songs a different semblance, attracting more attention to the listener; then, and it is clear that everything would be in vain if there was not behind a band like The Chasing Monster, able to offer with great continuity moments now liquid, now more robust, but always full of beautiful melodic lines, fundamental element in the economy of an album that does not suffer even for a moment of empty passages or fillers. Tales is a work of art, in the most complete sense of the word: make it yours, you will enjoy it, you will be moved and you will love the work of these guys.

2017 – Antigony Records