Mouth Of The Architect – “Quietly” 2XLP (splatter) – Translation Loss Records [Album As Art #46]

As much as I liked to think I knew what I was talking about during my first few years of music reviewing, truth is I offered a lot of syllables, some genuinely decent insight and, above all, TONS of misguided words heaped upon even MORE misguided words heaped upon a shimmering mountain of true — but ignorant — enthusiasm (heaped upon a small serving of truth) … some might say I haven’t changed much, but I really, truly have.

One of the most important points I’ve learned over the years involves calling bands imitative of one another: It just doesn’t make sense, in the scheme of things. It would be ridiculous to say comparisons can’t be drawn, but to make a mountain out of a molehill, for me, these days, takes downright plagiary. In the here and now, you’d have to butcher a genre pretty bad for me to, in turn, butcher you to DEATH with my hot, pointy prose.

That wasn’t always the case. I used to get all hot and bothered over what I saw as One Band copying Another Band and so on and so forth; now, I just don’t have the energy to hold similarities in style/substance against bands that toil for next-to-nothing and often don’t have the luxury of showering (one of the reasons I never quite envied the massive tour schedules of these brutes; hats off to them though).

So when I say that Mouth Of The Architect remind me of a LOT of bands — and I mean a LOT-LOT-LOT of bands — that I have little use for these days, don’t get it twizted like the cap of my sweet, sweet 40-ounce; I’m just saying there are precedents at work.

Let’s go ahead and run through some of those:

• First and foremost I glean Poison The Well from Mouth Of The Architect. The screams, the squeaky-clean guitar passages, the not-so-squeaky-clean guitar passages, the bleak, molten atmosphere … it’s all there. I wonder if, like that dude from PTW, a member of Mouth will start a band as bad as Sleigh Bells …
• I’m not so much one to marry Isis, in the parlance of Bob Dylan, but I’ve also never had a problem with the slow, churning, Mogwai-with-vocals-and-it-WORKS-against-all-odds stuff (don’t forget Pelican ‘neither).
• Fang Island, or maybe Fin Fang Foom? Aww hell, I went and mixed up my “fang”s. Drat … OK, now that I’ve done some research it’s definitely Fin Fang Foom I’m thinking of here. Hey, didn’t Fang Island get one of the guitarists from Daughters? Hell, that’s like signing Lebron-bron (Bron). Good, let’s move on.
• You could make a case for Envy and a million other bands, really, considering all the slow-but-dreamy rawk-metal being hawked these days, but Envy in particular do this kind of slow grind well.

I won’t bore you with any more comparisons (Joy Wants Eternity) but (My Dad Vs Yours) rest (Mono) assured (Knut), like I mentioned before (Neurosis), this kind of thing happens.

What’s more, when I delve into Mouth Of The Architect’s music I can’t find anything but encouraging signs that the group may one day transcend the blueprint and forge on to a sound more rife with nether-worldly creativity. Until then, however, I’m sure their fans and casual admirers don’t hear anything wrong with what got MouthOTA this far.

Lots of slow builds, a “boom-boom-boom BAP” drum beat that I swear to JESUS never deviates one IOta, a feeling of dread that almost crosses into insecurity with one’s self and the world — that’s what these guys are doing, and I can deal with that. That they’re constantly doing the Little Things — tinkling some digital ivories, lending the proceedings a little gol’-darn atmosphere circa effects, taking the time to dissect what works in the preceding and weeding out what doesn’t — and chipping away at answering some of the bigger music questions (“How do I break on through to the Other Side via our music?” “How do we take that crucial Next Step as a band?” “Where the hell did we drive off to?”) in the process.

As weird as I feel about my obsession with all-things-wax over the last few years, I can say without flinching TOO hard that the gorgeous gatefold design and moon-splatter LPs are what caused me to even give these guys a chance in the first place, as I think true works of Art should be packaged as such (as this is, too) and, often, are. Keep working hard on that design and don’t give up, label heads!