(written by Islander)
The members of the Detroit band Pillar of Light chose an evocative name for their group, one that describes an otherworldly image, suggestive of blinding wonder and perhaps even the appearance of divinity. Yet the image might also be perceived as daunting or frightening.
It turns out to be a name that’s fitting to their music, which is itself a multi-faceted experience capable of producing awe-struck reactions, but it must also be said that the musical edifice they’re constructing is as much supported by columns of obsidian rising from an abyss as pillars of light descending from on high.
That edifice, in its most fully realized form so far, is represented in the band’s debut album, Caldera, which will be released later this year by Transcending Obscurity Records. One single from the album (“Wolf to Man“) surfaced this past summer, and today we present another one as the fall encroaches. Its name is “Spared“.
Pillar of Light have introduced their first full-length with these words:
Caldera took form over several years and embodies the collective sense of loss and instability of our times. Each song is its own journey through the depths of human emotion and follows a narrator desperate to find reason in madness, purpose in destruction, and wisdom in futility.
Recorded by Andy Nelson and mastered by Brad Boatright, Caldera slowly repels into the abyss, making peace with grief before crawling back toward safety.
From that introduction you could already guess that the song you’re about to hear is an exceedingly heavy one, and it definitely is, in both the fracturing power of the decibels and the music’s emotionally pulverizing qualities.
The song’s opening, however, creates a different kind of mood — slow, soft, spellbinding, and wistful. That opening also establishes a moody melody that threads through the song, but it’s not long before you feel the track’s pavement-cracking heaviness and torment too.
The drums punch damned hard, the riffing crackles with distortion as the layered guitars heave, warp, and wail, and the vocals scream with larynx-rupturing intensity. Moments of softness return as picked notes reverberate and the deep bass muses and moans, but there’s no relent in the shattering intensity of the vocals, and those softer phases make the music’s heavier movements even more crushing.
Unmistakably, the song is a channel of yearning and despair, and the piercing tones of the lead guitar amplify the music’s beseeching qualities. But the band also bring the hammers down, pounding like giant sledgehammers on enormous anvils. And after a feverishly ticking bridge and grim spoken words, the music builds toward an eventual summit of startling intensity, both bludgeoning and searing — and there, at last, you see a pillar of light, blinding and burning.
PILLAR OF LIGHT:
Aaron Whitfield – Vocals, Lyrics, Synths
Alex Kennedy – Guitars, Synths
Scott Christie – Guitars
James Obenour – Bass
Eric Scobie – Drums
For further info about the album, including its release date and the formats in which it will be presented by Transcending Obscurity, keep an eye on the locations linked below. The album’s dramatic cover art is the work of the great Mariusz Lewandowski.
Below you can also listen to that first single from the album, “Wolf to Man“. It too has a gentle and mesmerizing beginning, but it too becomes orders of magnitude heavier and more emotionally shattering, and the vocals again hold nothing back.
TRANSCENDING OBSCURITY:
https://tometal.com
https://transcendingobscurity.bandcamp.com/
https://transcendingobscurity.aisamerch.com/
http://eu.tometal.com
PILLAR OF LIGHT:
https://www.facebook.com/pillaroflightband
https://pillaroflightband.bandcamp.com/
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