After losing one of their core members, Caspian were left with a choice: they either hang it up and call it a day, or move on and begin the healing process. While the band chose the latter, I’m sure they thought of option A at least for a while. Coming off their successful Waking Season LP released a few years ago, many people wondered what kind of music the band would bring us. Would they go lighter? Would they get heavier? Would they make tears well up in your eyes and ponder what the true meaning of heartbreak is? Caspian has managed to capture all these things and more on their new record, and it sits as their best work to date, surpassing their last few records with miles between them.
We covered the few singles the band released from the album, but that outlines only a small portion of the listening experience. While the songs are great as standalone tracks, they really work best when listened to from beginning to end, from the opening set of notes to the closing of this chapter in the band’s life. There are some songs that bear their signature Caspian trademark, but with a little edge to it. The heavy songs are just that: truly heavy. No frills, no games. Just a realness that the band successfully captured on tape. On the opposite end of the spectrum, you have songs like “Run Dry”, which is a great song musically, but is brought to a whole other level with the addition of some beautifully sung vocals. It will go down as one of, if not the best track on the album, and it paints a very accurate portrait of the band after the tragedy they endured.
This album features many mood changes throughout its duration, and even within the same song, which the band really seemed to have taken to and been able to do so flawlessly. While at times it may seem best to let the songs work out the way they began, the journey you take is a crazy one, filled with all kinds of emotions. This record was written with the intention to completely tear you up from the inside out, and is, quite frankly, tear-inducing at some points. There were instances where tears began streaming down this reviewer’s face due to some abstract memory from way back, and while it became arduous at times, the satisfaction the record left behind is more than worth it. For the casual listener, this may not be so, but for die-hard Caspian fans, this is the record that will make you finally break down. And it’s a good thing. Everyone needs to have that escape once in a while, and this record is the perfect one to have it with.
At the end of the line, however, the record bows out as gracefully as it began. It’s definitely something you’d want to listen to when you have the time to do so in full. As stated before,the songs as standalone tracks are great, but the whole record is absolutely fantastic, and it seems to this reviewer that this is the experience the band were aiming for when writing and recording this record. The band may never move on from losing a brother in arms, but by god they made us believe that they have let the tragedy make the whole band stronger as one unit. If you’re looking for a record to exemplify triumphing over tragedy, you should put this one in the same league as We Lost The Sea‘s latest record, which we gave a perfect score.
Overall, this record will go down as yet another crowning achievement in the genre of post-rock/post-metal. While the band has never strayed from the common path when writing, this time they actually found a way to combine their light and dark sides, creating what is an album that will not only be on many year end lists, but also an album that will forever be known as the point where Caspian stopped making music and started telling stories.
Caspian – Dust And Disquiet gets…
4.5/5
-SS