Mouth of the Architect

Two years after their masterpiece The Ties That Blind, Dayton, OH’s Mouth of the Architect return with the dismally sombre Quietly. Beginning with a sampled diatribe on consumerism, "Hate and Heartache” could be the metal version of Pink Floyd’s The Wall, with its palpable hopelessness. Emanating from a back alley in Blade Runner, "Pine Boxes” is a short piano piece layered with unintelligible whispers and unsettling tones of despair. The spooky carnival vibe of "Guilt and the Like” conjures up My Dying Bride, while Made Out of Babies chanteuse Julie Christmas unexpectedly allows "Generation of Ghosts” to cling to a thread of hope, like Morgoth’s "Golden Age.” The Isis pop of "Rocking Chairs and Shotguns” fades out to the Styx-resonating keys of "Medicine.” The pure doom of "A Beautiful Corpse” polishes off the record as the austerity of Quietly reflects the anguish of today’s worldview.