Wow, a new Starkweather album, and so soon after their last one (Croatoan)? Seriously, it is exciting to hear another album from this long running and challenging outfit; and maybe being on a label run by fans of theirs, Starkweather may finally see some recognition for their forward thinking music (hopefully they do not remain a band's band). In any case, This Sheltering Night is a weighty slab of music that sees the band not only continuing with their patented metallic onslaught but collaborating with others as well (including Oktopus from Dalek and Sophia Perennis).
Seeing as the band collectively split This Sheltering Night into three "movements," then it follows that listeners can easily do the same and compartmentalize the album in order to digest the crushing sounds which the album contains. The first movement is purely the work of Starkweather and inhabits the same ground that the band is known for, boundary breaking music that challenges listeners sensibilities and ideas about what is musically possible in the realm of heavy music; "Epiphany" (an explosive way to open the album by blasting out of the gate with heavy guitars and drums before other elements creep into the song like the great quiet, almost jazzy parts), "Broken From Inside" (complete with some incredible vocal performances and subtle melodies hidden amongst the discordant guitars, pounding drums, and wildly shifting rhythms), "One Among Vermin" (the guitar leads add something special to this song , which has some of the heaviest sounds on the record as well as some of the most emotionally grabbing moments) and "Bustuari" (the guitars are certainly mind bending to hear, particularly alongside the horns) are some stand out examples of this piece of the album.
The second movement, courtesy of the band's collaboration with Sophia Perennis, is two tracks ("Swarm"'s discordance noise is a devastating followup to "Epiphany" and "The End Of All Things", which slowly descends from an ominously quiet piece into a maelstrom of white noise) of soundscapes that push the album to new heights. The third movement, the result of the band's working with Oktopus, is quite surprising as "Receive" is one of my favorite pieces on the album and certainly defies all expectations and any pre-conceived notions that I had about this particularly collaboration and the other two pieces, "Transmit" and "Proliferate" add to the album by bridging their bookending songs well.
This Sheltering Night is everything that avid listeners could hope for from Starkweather, a massive outburst of heavy music that is at times ugly and crushing while beautiful and menacing at others; the music that this band and its collaborators is quite good. One challenging aspect of this record is that the track listing on the back of the packaging (and seemingly every electronic source) is wholly incorrect (thus breaking the notion of sorts of the album being sonically divided into actual movements); thankfully, the real song order seemingly appears within the liner notes and makes much more sense when following the record, which is seamless in its execution. Truly, This Sheltering Night is a worthy addition to the collective work of Starkweather and one which I would certainly point people to hearing if they had previously never heard the band's work; this might be one of the best releases this year.
