Style: Post-Metal, Post-Hardcore, Sludge (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Conjurer, The Ocean, Skeletonwitch, Ashenspire
Review by: Cooper
Country: Australia
Release date: 7 April, 2023
Historically, “to glean” meant to gather leftover grain after a harvest. It was associated with peasantry and it was most certainly demeaning being allowed by one’s lord to sift through the muck of a field in hopes of finding forgotten sustenance. With The Gleaners, though, Lo! have taken the term and all its connotations and turned them on their head. Within the grim world painted by this album, to be a Gleaner is to be one who seeks the truth, slowly piecing it together despite the muck of modern society.
In order to best convey this message, Lo! have dialed down on the sludge influences found in their previous albums and have instead let their post-metal and post-hardcore influences – with emphasis on “post” – take center stage. It isn’t a complete style change from their previous albums, but the refinement better suits the more focused concept on The Gleaners, especially in moments like the devastatingly heavy breakdowns in “Salting the Earth”, “Rat King”, and the title track as well as the incredibly well done moments of atmosphere on songs like “Kleptoparasite” and “Mammons Horn.” The bass especially makes this combination of styles successful, bringing subterranean growls for the heavier sections and more delicate, rhythmically interesting ideas in the quieter sections. For fans of bands like Conjurer, I wholeheartedly recommend this album.
For more discerning prog metal fans, however, The Gleaners will probably not cut it. For one, it becomes quite repetitive, especially on repeat listens, with multiple songs featuring similar structures and three songs going as far as having nearly the exact same style of lyrical ostinatos. I recognize that this is a concept album and lyrical and musical callbacks should be expected, but due to the lack of sonic variety across songs, the moments of seeming repetition represent a lack of ideas more to me than any sort of careful planning. Additionally, because The Gleaners is such a heavy album released via Pelagic Records, I can’t help but compare it to recent releases from bands like Hypno5e, Psychonaut, and LLNN, and I inevitably find The Gleaners falling short. If there’s one thing, though, that the sophisticated prog fan will enjoy in this album, it’s the lyrics. Very much in the same vein as Ashenspire’s recent Hostile Architecture, The Gleaners weaves a complex narrative of political and social strife entrenched in metaphor and mysticism. It’s an intellectual treat reading along to the lyrics as the album plays.
When I turn off my prog metal brain and embrace the caveman, the heaviness of The Gleaners more than carries its weight, but I am no longer able to appreciate the nuance of the lyrics. It seems as though no matter what mindset I take, I am only ever able to appreciate one aspect of this album at a time. There are moments, like in “Mammons Horn” and the title track, where Lo! replaces their usual low chugging style with more melodic chord work and I find myself more stimulated by the emotional content of the music as opposed to its headiness/heaviness, and these moments are undoubtedly the highpoints of the album for me. I am still able to enjoy the rest of the album, but nothing compares to the emotional resonance achieved at just a few key points on The Gleaners. Still, it’s a good album if only in one way at a time.
Recommended tracks: Rat King, Kleptoparasite, Mammons Horn
You may also like: LLNN
Final verdict: 6/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives Page
Label: Pelagic Records – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website
Lo! is:
– Sam Dillon (vocals)
– Carl Whitbread (guitars)
– Adrian Shapiro (bass)
– Adrian Griffin (drums)
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