(Andy Synn does his best to let the light in… let’s see what it reveals, shall we?)
I think it was pretty much the day I started writing here that I began chipping away at the whole “no clean singing” thing here at NCS.
Granted, it was always more of a tongue-in-cheek statement, rather than a strict edict, as the site had been featuring bands with various forms of clean singing, off and on, well before I got here.
But I’ve definitely been responsible for bringing a fair number of bands – bands with nary a hint of harsh vocals in their sound – to the site that probably wouldn’t have been covered here otherwise.
And since I was the one to first bring Doom-Pop/Dream-Gaze quartet SOM to the site’s attention – first with my review of their debut album, The Fall, followed by my write-up of their stunning second album, The Shape of Everything (which also made it into my Critical Top Ten of 2022) – it only seems fitting that I continue to make a mockery of everything we stand for by sharing my thoughts on their upcoming third album, Let The Light In (out next week on Pelagic Records).
After listening to Let The Light In multiple times over the last week or so, it didn’t come as a huge surprise to me to learn that the creative process for the album looked a little different this time around – with bassist Justin Forrest switching over to drums to replace the departing Duncan Rich, and vocalist Will Benoit trading in his guitar for bass (with guitars now being handled by the duo of Joel Reynolds and Mike Repasch-Nieves) – as it definitely feels like there’s been a slight reshuffling and refocussing of the band’s priorities this time around.
This is immediately apparent in the opening duo of “Don’t Look Back” and “Let The Light In”, which cut right to the chase with their even more streamlined, pop-adjacent song-writing – with the former drawing on the more ‘gaze-influenced side of the Deftones while the latter errs a little closer to Alcest‘s more mainstream-friendly work – without sacrificing the ethereal-yet-soulful vibe which has become the band’s signature.
So far, then, so good… but, also, so what? After all, just making a more “easy listening” version of your last album is no guarantee of commercial success, let alone critical acclaim, despite how much yours truly happens to enjoy “Don’t Look Back” in particular every time I hear it. So surely the band have more to offer than just that?
Well, as luck would have it, they most certainly do, beginning with early album highlight “Chemicals”, which emphasises the slightly more sombre side of the band’s sound – even leaning into a bit of weighty, grungy gloom at times – with its more intricate arrangement of shimmering, shivering guitars and hazy, harmonic synths helping cultivate a sense of emotional tension which allows for an even more cathartic breakthrough which feels that little bit more earned when it finally happens.
And while not every track rises above the listener’s expectations – with the ultimate result being that, in my opinion at least, Let The Light In doesn’t quite manage to outshine its stunning predecessor – stand-outs songs like the electrically-textured “Give Blood” (something which I did a couple of weeks back, as it happens) and the moody, subtly-Katatonia-inspired “Nightmares” (both of which find Reynolds and Repasch-Nieves adding some nuanced new touches to the group’s sonic palette) are almost worth the price of admission on their own.
Sure, I know we all probably wanted this to be an unparalleled triumph on the same level as The Shape of Everything (and, make no mistake at least some of these songs – including captivating closer “The Light”, which shows off a slightly heavier side of the band than you might be familiar with – definitely rise to the occasion) but we shouldn’t judge it for what it’s not… no, we should love it for what it is, and I can’t imagine anyone who’s been a fan of the band before not loving Let The Light In (and, hopefully, it’ll gain them some all new fans as well).