post rock / post metal
Maven is an album released in mid-October, by Italian post rock band Menhyr. A very concise album – a little more than half an hour long –, the record has six tracks: Atlantis, Maven, Jacqueline, Ab Aeterno, Echo and Oblio. A very simple album, that departs from the more conventional sonorous layouts of the genre, Maven is a decent and interesting work, though there is nothing exceptional about it. The melodies are good and consistent, but suffers from a severe lack of audacity, subjecting the listener from the beginning to a moderate level of monotony; nevertheless, there is a sad and calm beauty on their lethargic style, that definitely understands its place on the dispersive musical layers devised by the group’s evasively mordacious musicality.
While Maven in general have exceedingly slow harmonies, you can have a modest degree of satisfaction listening to it. The technical elements displayed by the band are way more efficient than its stagnant creativity, although they showcase a pungent and highly concentrated level of comprehension on their genre of choice, and seems secure exposing it’s more virulent and aggressive qualities – confined to some random passages of intense and hostile volatility – which are definitely the highlight of the album.
With calmer melodies confined to a very homogeneous sound, there is not enough elements on Maven to sustain a profound discussion about their sound. As the album progresses, though, it gets better and better, especially from the fourth track onwards. My favorite track is definitely the fifth, Echo. Despite being ardently slow, the song is beautiful, and its graciously expansive musical devices are relatively distinct from other songs on the album. With heavier and dense guitar lines, it’s the most pungent, visceral and redemptive track, although, in a broader evaluation, showcases the generic standards present in the other songs as well. The final track, Oblio, is also very good. Its harmonies deliver a poetic and melancholic horizon of depressive and somnolent splendor, that will sleep forever in the adjacent emptiness of its own latent impatience.
In the end, Maven is not a bad album. It’s just too ordinary, and somewhat predictable. While definitely this work has a modest degree of qualities – able to entertain enthusiasts of post rock –, it will hardly impress anyone. Nevertheless, its good work. This band just have to learn how to be a little more original, emotional and creative.
Wagner
While Maven in general have exceedingly slow harmonies, you can have a modest degree of satisfaction listening to it. The technical elements displayed by the band are way more efficient than its stagnant creativity, although they showcase a pungent and highly concentrated level of comprehension on their genre of choice, and seems secure exposing it’s more virulent and aggressive qualities – confined to some random passages of intense and hostile volatility – which are definitely the highlight of the album.
With calmer melodies confined to a very homogeneous sound, there is not enough elements on Maven to sustain a profound discussion about their sound. As the album progresses, though, it gets better and better, especially from the fourth track onwards. My favorite track is definitely the fifth, Echo. Despite being ardently slow, the song is beautiful, and its graciously expansive musical devices are relatively distinct from other songs on the album. With heavier and dense guitar lines, it’s the most pungent, visceral and redemptive track, although, in a broader evaluation, showcases the generic standards present in the other songs as well. The final track, Oblio, is also very good. Its harmonies deliver a poetic and melancholic horizon of depressive and somnolent splendor, that will sleep forever in the adjacent emptiness of its own latent impatience.
In the end, Maven is not a bad album. It’s just too ordinary, and somewhat predictable. While definitely this work has a modest degree of qualities – able to entertain enthusiasts of post rock –, it will hardly impress anyone. Nevertheless, its good work. This band just have to learn how to be a little more original, emotional and creative.
Wagner
