The Salt Pale Collective is back.
Three years have passed since their debut album, and despite a brief split with …Has No Tongue, the band has remained relatively quiet. The time has come for Dave (guitar/bass/vocals/drums, The Sun Explodes), Alex (vocals/guitar, The Sun Explodes), and Dan (keyboards/sound design/samples/vocals) to return with their second album, And God Said Nothing.
We first discover Raised Aloft upon the Horns of the Celestial Bull gently, with a breath and then backing vocals, and the calm atmosphere grows increasingly heavy as the vocals take their place in this cottony universe, but the distortion will set the mix ablaze past the halfway point, bringing back the usual screams as well. The massive post-rock roots come through fully in these jagged riffs, but …and God Said Nothing quickly asserts itself, imposing a majestic yet aggressive sound, playing with its various vocal parts to captivate us and create an addictive diversity before shifting to a rawer approach on Our Pale Madonna. We’ll notice the interesting work on the electronic elements, which give the track a different flavor, making it once again quite diverse, much like the contrast between the aggressive opening and the ethereal break that divides the track into three sections, while the final passage is also overwhelming. Litany for a Dying Son then takes over with a highly crafted sound, bordering on complexity both in its progressive patterns and in the dissonant riffs that frame the mystical moments, but Ahoy! The Black Caskets disrupts this balance with a heavy introduction followed by a sound that is just as heavy but even more imposing, easily flirting with Gothic/Doom. The piano reinforces this feeling, but it also signals the end of the track and final track The Stars Fade and Reel in Confusion’s arrival, which, though not the longest, best embodies the diversity the band is capable of, allowing it to coexist harmoniously, as in the passages where the two voices blend together.
It’s always challenging to grasp an album by The Salt Pale Collective, given how thoughtful, complex, and varied their music is, but And God Said Nothing once again makes me feel that I was right to take the plunge. Fans of heavy music will be in heaven.
85/100