True Cross - Pure Divorce (2016)

True Cross are a four-piece from members of Landmine Marathon, Trap Them, Transistor Transistor and Vehemence. (That last one really surprised me.) The kind of music they're playing here isn't the sort of catchy core or extravagant death metal that you'd expect. Instead, it's a sort of posty mix of melodic rock which comes off quite soothing, sort of like Palms. The music actually fits pretty well with the bright white cover art, making it almost something of an absence of color flowing into the dreamy abyss of emotion. But if that sounds just too artsy fartsy for you, then I'll break it down like this. You're not going to bang your head to this record, you're not going to hear flying solos or powerful drum blasts. True Cross just aren't that kind of band. They're actually the kind of act that you play when you want to chill and just really soak up the music.

With a crispy vocal approach and so many romantic riff melodies that they'd make Deafheaven jealous, this is definitely the after-hours kind of experience. Hell, it might even make the mood better during a sexual experience. Couple of lit candles, a lit stick of incense and a warm, naked body either in the bedroom or in the bath, and I think you've got a real winner here. The record as a whole is actually quite long, but it's an expectable length for the kind of experience offered. The songs don't even have titles, but do they need to? Obviously, Pure Divorce is the kind of record that you'll want to listen to from front to back and it's sort of made that way. There's a little bit of electronics here as well as some drone, all coming together to make a very intimate music experience. It's kind of odd that they'd call the album Pure Divorce as I don't think you're going to want to divorce the person that you're embracing while such a record plays in the background.

Call it what you want, hipster, gay, not metal, not rock, whatever. If it doesn't speak to you, that's fine. But you can't argue with me that it's a lot more passionate than some of the lifeless approaches you may have heard on the American Grammy's last night. Which makes me wonder, if such an act stepped onto the same stage, would they have been accepted? Would people hear this kind of music and actually get it? Would they feel the same sort of emotion as they do when they hear the same overbearing choruses in use twenty times in a row, and that's the song? Truly there's something of real musical merit here. Something that I think appeals to people far beyond that of rock, metal and other less popular genres. If you like dreamy soundscapes with just as dreamlike vocals and ethereal guitar melodies, you'll certainly find something here. Once again, there's a massive musical appeal here and hopefully more people will be talking about this band in the future. They really should. Much more exciting than Coldplay.

(16 Tracks, 62:00)

9/10