After some slow and ominously building rustlings, an explosion of havoc occurs. A fierce eruption, like water against a hot stove. After the frenzy of the reaction, the steam rises, the metal cools, and the peace is retained.
This is ‘You don’t recall our house near the ocean;’, the opening track of Thereafter by Save Us From The Archon. A concept album of sorts, Thereafter is structured as a poem in two-parts, as suggested by the amalgamation of its track names:
“I. You don’t recall our house near the ocean; swallowed by waves, unable to sleep when eventually, unconsciously you know everything ends, and everyone leaves.
(elapse)
II. Only that house in my conscience stays caught under tides, awake and regretful, informed of the reality left there in the after.”
Save Us From The Archon narrate the story of an unrequited memory with stellar instrumentation. Their trademark short-sharp bursts of extremely technical math/metal/jazz/progressive fusion are encased by interludes of slow, ethereal looping and haunting backward guitar, which evoke an uncomfortable sense of tranquillity. Keeping with the continuous flow of the poem, each track is neatly interwoven into the next, allowing the album to punish unabridged. The overall result is like a hurricane with many eyes; nine tracks of melodic mayhem delivered at rapid speed.
Thereafter is every feeling you’ve ever known occurring at once. It rains; it shines; it is thunderous; it is stinging hot; it’s icy to the touch. Like a Trojan Horse, Thereafter penetrates your psyche with seemingly calm and subdued facades, only to unleash its many demons.