Style: progressive rock (mixed vocals)
Review by: Jonah
Country: California, United States
Release date: 7 December 2018
[EDITOR’S NOTE: This review was originally published in the 2018 missed albums issue of The Progressive Subway.]
I should preface this by saying that this album is composed and nearly fully performed by a friend of mine. I don’t believe I’ve let that impact the impartiality of my review in any way, but I wanted it clarified all the same. Now, Left as Rain is a solo project that was a long-time coming, and I’m incredibly happy I get to review this wonderful little album.
Torpedo Tuxedo starts off the album with a pop as it gets the album’s upbeat energy flowing with a chipper melody that never fails to leave me feeling good. That’s a theme throughout the album, as there is a prominent use of rhythms and melodies that feel almost poppy in how upbeat and pleasant they are. However, they shift into the heavier stuff just enough to really form into a wonderful combination of pretty atmospheric guitar noodling and chunky riffs to round it all out. There are only vocals on 2 tracks, and they are solid enough for what they’re needed to do. The vocal tone and timbre are incredibly nice, something akin to a sludgey style in my opinion, but it’s obvious a tad more confidence and time would go a long way. Nevertheless, I would absolutely love to see way, way more vocals on the next Left as Rain release, as I think would many others.
The songwriting itself is something erratic. Many passages feel wonderfully inspired and composed, and flow into a river of leads and riffs that just take me on an aural adventure. However, occasionally there’s a bit, sometimes just a brief moment, in these songs that takes me out of them. Often it’s a guitar passage that’s just a tad too erratic, or a style shift that feels a bit too abrupt. This is really a minor quibble, and is again something I fully expect to see smoothed out in following releases.
I can’t finish this review without making a note of the fact that this album features one of my favorite song titles I’ve ever seen. Freebird (With Purchase of a Bird of Equal or Greater Value) never fails to make me chuckle when I see it, and that alone makes it marvelous (the song is also real good, but that name is just masterful).
Trailing Off is a wonderful debut album that contains a bunch of lovely ideas and some that are just okay. I think anyone who is a fan of mostly instrumental metal with an emphasis on pretty melody and up-tempo composition will find something to like here, and I absolutely cannot wait to see what else Left as Rain has in store for us.
Recommended tracks: Torpedo Tuxedo, Trailing Off, Curse These Metal Hands
Recommended for fans of: Exivious, Scale the Summit, Cloudkicker
Final verdict: 7/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | RYM page
Label: Independent
Left as Rain is:
– Ryan Neff (all instruments)
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