TNL Music Club Week #1 - Closure in Moscow

[Opaque]

Closure in Moscow is an Australian progressive rock band from Melbourne, Victoria, formed in 2006. The band comprises lead vocalist Chris De Cinque, drummer Beau McKee, guitarist and vocalist Mansur Zennelli, bassist Brad Kimber and guitarist Michael Barrett.

Only 18 months after first forming, Closure in Moscow signed to Taperjean Records and released their debut EP (self-proclaimed 'albumette') in 2008, titled The Penance and the Patience.They have established a name for themselves with an array of shows in their home country alongside international acts such as Saosin, Coheed and Cambria, Aiden, Scary Kids Scaring Kids, A Static Lullaby, Street Drum Corps and Unwritten Law. The band's debut studio album, First Temple, was released in May 2009.

To me this band feels like a better Mars Volta (not so random and unrepeatable; ever been to a Mars Volta show? It's cool but they just make shit up) and I've been really impressed with how solid all of their tracks have been across both their releases.

I included their first CD but you're not required to listen to it if you don't want to; that being said I really recommend listening to "Here's to Entropy" before you listen to anything else. You don't have to, but it'll pump you up for everything else to come. If you don't want to bother with the first CD for just that one track here's the video:

Enjoy, and everything should be going to our folder now. If you don't know what I'm talking about go to Skull and Bones, get smart, and come discuss this with us.

[Doc Holliday]

I don't like the lead singer. He sings like Hubbitron. Other than that, I dig it.

[Opaque]

I think he does a really good job on songs like Sweet#hart.

[FirstBlood]

Everyone in this band does a fine job.

That said, the songs are so hyper-drive-all-over-the-place-wanky that any time they do something good they only do for half a second before they're off doing something awful again, or they decide that they need to bury it under synth, vocals and/or leads. And the whole douchey suburban prog/post/whatever-core look definitely doesn't help (lol look at that fucking microphone in the video)

Also, the first Mars Volta album is about a thousand times more cohesive than this.

[Opaque]

I'd probably agree with you that Comatorium was cohesive, but by the time you get to Bedlam in Goliath they'd just lost their mind. I've also never been a fan of a CD having ten songs over 6 minutes when 90% of those songs are just them jamming out and that's all Mars Volta seems to know how to do anymore. It's really because of Omar Rodríguez-López who has done guitar for over 50 CDs (14 solo CDs in 2009 and 2010, that's just fucking stupid) and he just doesn't fucking remember it all. At shows he just plays random shit, it's stupid.

I feel like each of the songs on this CD is really a fully constructed song, and not just them freaking out for six minutes. It is all over the place as a CD though.

[FirstBlood]

Anyone listening to The Mars Volta after the first album is doing it wrong.

[Opaque]

I think we can both agree on that.

[arjue]

First impressions of the video is that it sounds like when good musicians have shitty taste in music. I'll still give the album a proper listen though.

[Detour]

I'm not a huge fan, but I don't hate it or anything. I think I may have actually caught the tail end of one of their shows a year or two ago, and it was pretty good (I think). I've dumped both albums on my iPhone and will have a proper listen tomorrow at work!

[Opaque]

I'm a Ghost of Twilight is really growing on m, I can't explain it.

I think the strongest tracks are really Reindeer Age and Sweet#hart, I can listen to those two over and over.