Great review, Comus
Thanks a lot!
I wanted a Paternoster review because I thought I wouldn't have time to listen to it .. but my curiosity got the better of me and I got a hold of it and listened to it on the way back from work. By the time I got back to where I live, I was on the last song.
You are a bit more positive than I was on my first listening. I thought at times, the drums were about as tight as wet toilet paper (for example about 3 minutes an onwards into "Blind Children") and the guitarist seems to mostly improvise randomly on one string throughout most of the album, making the guitar fight a bit for attention with the vocals on some tracks. It makes the guitar slightly annoying at times and makes me think some chords or even riffs should be in order. They paint some nice soundscapes on this album, like on the track "Stop These Lines" where they make some of their instruments sound like wolves and owls in the dark .. or at least, those are associations my mind came up with. However, I miss a richer feel of the sounds, possibly more reverb on the vocals and a chord every now and then on the guitar would do wonders, I think. As a whole, the album feels sombre, dark and a little depressing, maybe also a bit repetitious. Depending on who you are, maybe that's not a bad thing, but I feel a little light (representing here also some diversity in themes) makes the shadows even deeper.
On a more positive note, the album did pull me in quite a few times. As you probably don't know, I'm currently way up in the norwegian arctic where the polar night has set in for full. Walking in the crisp cold in the darkness while listening to Paternoster was at times strangely fitting and even sent some shivers down my spine on one occasion or two. The songs are definetly mood-setters making me think many of them would fit specific use, like music in a film for example. However, the whole album from start to end feels a bit lacking for me, as if Paternoster's ambitions were a bit too high for their abilities. The production is slightly lacking in areas - as I mentioned, some wet-paper drums and annoying guitar (IMO) and nearly fulfiling soundscapes, but not quite. However, a great moodsetter and definetly a fun curiosity to show your friends now and then.
I didn't really mean to write so much, but I guess asking you to review the album made me a bit analytical myself as I was listening to it.