A Secret History Of Our Future
Self-Released, 2019
9/10
A Secret History Of Our Future
This sophomore album from the trio Rest As Mutes has the Seattle outfit taking the grunge influences from their hometown, as well as noise-rock, post-punk and even shoegaze to these 6 detailed and mesmerizing tunes.
“Sermon” gets the album started with an ominous setting of post-punk mystery that builds into a complicated, busy display that touches on psyche and prog-rock, and “Voyage” follows with an angular, cinematic quality where group vocals add a raw edge to the affair.
The back half of the listen is, thankfully, more of the same, as “Plague” finds a dark place to reside amid sonically engaging instrumentation, while “Trial” picks up the pace into post-hardcore crunch that’s as visceral as it is gripping. “Witches” ends the listen with soaring, uproarious vocals and an approach that you could almost sing-along to, but segues into a mashing of abrasiveness, hypnotic and unclassifiable textures.
A concept record about a fictional witch trial in Colonial America, if you haven’t familiarized yourself with Rest As Mutes yet, you may want to fix that immediately, as post-hardcore just doesn’t get much more interesting than this.
Travels well with: Shellac- 1000 Hurts; Failure- Fantastic Planet