A Sea of Dead Trees is a one-man band from Glasgow, Scotland, that specializes in what its founder Robert Heath calls, “doomy shoegaze.” Drawing influence from Dan Barrett's 'Giles Corey', Godspeed You!, Black Emperor and the minimalist works of Philip Glass, the songs on Heath’s current record Athenia was made from layering sounds of atmospheric guitar (acoustic and electric), swelling to massive crescendos and driven by huge sampled drums. It follows up Heath’s 2018 debut, For I have brought the Sun to the Earth and turned all to ash in my wake which I recommend you check out once you get hooked on his latest. Trust me. The opening track “A Straw House in a Field of Flame” begins with spacious, beautiful sounds of the piano and acoustic. In addition, the vocals are sung by Michael Wiseman. I’m not sure what is being sung, but halfway in it didn’t matter. Wiseman’s tones added an extra layer that was fantastic. The drums, extra lead guitar melody and the overall dreaminess of the song was reminiscent of new wave, goth ballads of the early ‘80s (if I dare put goth and ballad in the same sentence, that is). The melody is sad, but a good sad if you get what I mean. Like one of those melodies that makes you long for something in your past that you know will never resurface again, but only in your mind. If this is doomy shoegaze, count me in! The instrumental “Black Philip” sounds like what you might expect – black. Filled with minor chords and a brooding drum beat – now this was the doom and gloom I was thinking about – so good! Think of what would happen if the Cure collaborated with Bauhaus when goth was huge. A Sea of Dead Trees nails it on this one. “Athenia” is a mammoth 14-minute-plus track (the entire album is a dedication to Heath’s grandfather, a survivor of the Athenia, the first British passenger liner to be sunk in World War II).It begins with a testimony from a female speaker who recounts what happened when the Athenia was submerging in the depths of the Western Approaches in the Atlantic Ocean. Carrying on his distinct blend of doomy shoegaze, Heath mixes up many layers and textures, all hauntingly beautiful. Repeating guitar chords, chilling keyboards and added drums carry on the song’s drive and melody, in-between further narration by survivor accounts. The song gets deeper and it crescendos with many musical arrangements, all telling that fateful story. “A Picture at the End of Everything” features more narration and sounds like theoretical physicist Michio Kaku, but I’m not real certain if it’s him. Sonically, the song gets even darker with its tones and textures and other fantastic layers of doom and gloom. By now if you’re this far in, most of what Heath does is instrumental, so if you’re a fan of that style of music, you should be totally geeking out by now. I would also say that this one reminded me of Joy Division’s darker songs, but wait – weren’t most of them dark? The structure and arrangements to “Depersonalisation” are quite interesting. I would say this tune borders on the avant-garde and ambient genres. This one to me sounds like it could have fit very well on the Blade Runner soundtrack. At the five-minute mark and thereafter, the echoing massive walls of sound are unbelievable – sure to fill your ears with imaginative images and thoughts. If there was a title that could give you a chill up and down your spine, it may be “An Exorcism for the Damned.” Heath certainly delivered on this one. I mean, holy crap! – Gene Simmons of KISS couldn’t have written a more dark and sinister song of death. The droning rhythm guitars cut through to your core, the tapping percussion is relentless, and the reverberating lead guitar melody is mesmerizing. About a quarter of the way in, all that sound drops out as Heath belts out an acoustic guitar with a quick rhythm and then retreats into an introspective style of playing. The rest of the song only gets better, as you might imagine, from a listener who was totally into this album from start to finish. One hopes that there’ll be more to come from A Sea of Dead Trees.
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