The Spear of the Lily Is Aureoled

Ten yeas have gone by, since this album was last reviewed on this site. Over twenty have elapsed, since this album was released back in 1998. In my opinion, this album’s musical qualities remain as meaningful and coherent as they always did, becoming a little bit timeless amidst obscurity, though I am sure that the lyrics were more fitting you young men who were discovering their philosophies and finding beauty in most or all that is inherently beautiful. That describes this music rather well, actually – beautiful (albeit juxtaposed against a touch of angered sorrow).

The beauty of the music aside as a scene-setter, the album opens straight into a delicate melody encased in crystal that could shatter at a touch. This crystal encasing never leaves the cassette reel, as the album flows onward through some exquisite shifts of pace (think Ophthalamia excluding their final album) and countered by often poignant melodies and solos like these young men weren’t too sure whether their romantic sentiments were a blessing or a curse.

To my ears, there is at this point an obvious resemblance to early Agalloch (almost by default) and Dark Tranquillity (that will please fans of these projects) with the softer subtleties as offered by Lykathea Aflame amidst their planned melee. I also liken most the guitar tone in many of the solos to Dimmu Borgir’s third album on tracks such as A Succubus in Rapture, which is another piece brimming with romantic energy – the production in accentuating the guitars interplaying with the keys can too be compared to Stormblast, which came soon before.

Vocals overlay this guitar-driven lead generally in the death metal vain though change to clean when accentuating the lyrics and vocal lines sometimes similar to Ulver in sound and Opeth in content, and the drums and keys provide the drama whilst holding back the prospect of peace or freedom from the grip of romantic thought. Nonetheless, the music is warm and comforting – almost soft. The keys however at times are a little jarring such as on the fifth where they could be pulled from Titan Mountain’s debut album (and only good one) in their attempts to mimic I presume the flute.

The above being said, there’s a glint of inaccessibility to this approach to music that I have experienced with early Dark Tranquillity in particular. Such a pursuit of raw and unfinished sentimental feelings laid to music almost as a default acts as a mazeway to navigate, before being able to enjoy the album for what it offers (and it does offer a lot). It takes a few listens to begin to understand the overall sound and unravel it.

Overall, this is a very solid album and the only one from Sculptured that I enjoy. I expect that at the time of its original release it was an album that you’d possibly turn away from as a purist in disgust. This is nowhere near death metal, for a good deal of its play-time – even down to the artwork. Despite this, if you’ve a keen ear for melodies and enjoy the approaches of in particular early Agalloch (the demo), early Dark Tranquillity and Ophthalamia then this is probably one for you to at least give a single full spin.

First thing I need to write down to open my review, is that it was impossible for me to listen to this record without thinking about Agalloch. First, because John Haughm and Don Anderson took parts in the writting and recording of this album, and also because the music found on The Spear of the Lily Is Aureoled shares lots of similarities with Agalloch's music. The song Together with the Seasons is one of these tracks on which you'll find quite a lot of similarities between both bands. The guitars, right from the start kicks in with a "post-rockish" riff, that is still played a little bit faster then it would ever be played in an Agalloch song. Without going on and on with further examples of these similarities, I will only mention how similar the drums are in both of these bands. Sculptured plays with a faster pace though.

No matter how many similarities there is to be found between both bands, Sculptured still makes unique music. The use of a trumpet and a trombone in many of their songs, the avant-garde/experimental and progressive twists given to some of the most inspired and unique melodic death metal I have ever heard, really does contribute in making this album one of the most enjoyable musical experience I ever had. Breaking these guys music down to such a simple and precise genre classification like progressive/melodic death metal would still be silly though. Like I said before, post-rock influences are also to be found in their music, plus, the keyboard are not your typical melodeath keys, making up some of the most refreshing leads on the album.

Don Anderson's work on the vocals is simply amazing. Not only are the lyrics very good, but these are sang with a great diversity of vocals. Harsh vocals, growls, whispered vocals and beautiful and powerful clean vocals are all to be found on this record. The title Fashioned by Blood & Tears displays this great diversity of vocals genres perfectly.

To make the best description of this record, a song-by-song review would be needed. This is useless though, because even with that kind of description, the best way to understand Sculptured music is to listen to it. There is so many influences, like jazz in titles like Fashioned by Blood & Tears and Her Silence. Post-rock influences in most of the guitar leads, while the rhythm are more typical death metal influenced riffs. Classical piano, featured on many titles.

My only major complaint goes for the spoken words sections they add here and there on the album. This is so cliché and useless. These parts do not add anything to the music or feeling of the song. In fact, it even breaks the flow of the track. I do not mind having spoken words at the end of beginning of an album, or even a track, if it's well done. But on Almond Beauty, it comes in during a piano melody, and even when the vocals kick back in, these samples keep playing in the back. The worst part is that it goes on forever. It's not just a 10 seconds business, it drags on for something like a whole minute. Halfway through Lit by the Light of Morning, there is another of these spoken words section. At least it just lasts for 20 seconds.

This is definitely an album that Agalloch and progressive fans would enjoy. I suggest anybody who's interrested in a good avant-garde/progressive death metal project, to listen to this beautiful piece of art.

Highlights: Her Silence, Fashioned by Blood & Tears

This is really the only Sculptured album that is worth owning unless you absolutely love pretension in your music - not that there isn't some in this release, mind you, but the warbling of their other two albums pales in comparison to this fun little romp through melodeath mixed with some more progressive elements. It's pretty indicative of the early output of The End Records: cerebral, artsy and more than a little different from what was going on at the time. Having ties to Agalloch gives some indication of what this sounds like, and you could probably throw some Opeth in there as well, but those are not good comparisons honestly. Sculptured sounds familiar without really sounding like anyone else. The guitars are super melodic (listen to the intro to "Almond Beauty"), there are some quirky elements such as movie samples integrated into songs, trumpets and an entirely unnecessary and out of place interlude with "Fulfillment in Tragedy." The music isn't too technical, despite the wishes of some of the performers to want it to be. It's simple, easy-listening, and pretty decent; that's all

If the cover, album title and lyrics didn't clue you in, we're not talking about particularly brutal or extreme music here. Aside from the growls and some driving rhythms (particularly in "Lit by the Light of Morning"), there's nothing particularly metallic going on here. It's very clean, kinda gothy at points, and reminds me a little of post-death/doom Anathema for some reason. When I say "melodic death," I don't mean like Garden of Shadows and I don't mean Gothenburg, this is far more restrained and openly melodic than either of those two. There's nothing "death" about this besides the growls really, overall it's really rather fey, but enjoyable if you're into this sort of thing. Production sounds a bit hollow, but the superbly melodic guitars and decent clean singing come through pretty well. The vocalist actually enunciates when he growls, always a plus, though the growls themselves are rather breathy and weak.

If you're a sucker for all things related to The End Records before the label became almost completely awful and useless, this album is a pretty good investment if you can find it. It's nothing like the manic technicality of Scholomance, not quite as introspective as Agalloch, but it does sit comfortably alongside Love History as a good example of what The End used to be all about. The eclecticism of the label's early days is really what drew me to them; it's a pity we're left primarily with crappy "art" rock now, but I digress...

The first three songs are the best on offer here; everything after the interlude meanders for a little too long and the whole sugary-sweet nature of the music wears thin rather quickly. Rather than focusing on what they were good at and reducing the cheese factor, which honestly would have made this whole thing much better, Sculptured disappeared for far too long and proceeded to let the batshit insane parts take over. A pity, but it is what it is I guess.

Fine velvety smooth avant-garde death metal I don’t see many people rave about that often. This may sound weird in a review for a metal album, but the singing reminds me of Keith Sweat the R&B singer. And we all know how those R&B singers are very vocal. The growls are well executed, it’s understandable, possessed, and controlled. The music is similar to early Opeth but a bit more eclectic. Trumpets, toiling with instruments like those strange avant-garde bands do, and well-selected video clips are used which I don’t recall Opeth ever doing. Sculptured sounds actually more like Agalloch, minus the cold brim atmosphere. There is some folk-ish guitar plucking, which any appreciator of Agalloch will love. It’s more art rock meets death metal than the signature Agalloch sound of folk rock meets gothic metal. Sculptured is a metal band for the guy that wants to hear the unconventional artsy side of death metal paired with graceful moody melodies. Basically it's like avant-garde early melodic death (not melodic death as in At-The Gates clone) that incorporates easy listening, romantic piano playing, or jazzy blues rock wherever it fits in a song. It’s a perfect album to impress people with the misconception that all death metal is satanic brutal music. I can't stand people like that, seriously. The lyrics are impressive too, a lot of clever metaphors that represent the dark disastrous side of romance. The themes they try to give matches the feeling of the music perfectly.