A Year With No Summer is sort of an odd release for the normally extreme sounds we've come to expect from the folks over at Season of Mist. This Barcelona act known as Obsidian Kingdom play a somewhat proggy form of alternative & atmospheric rock, and other than a few moments here and there not 'metal' by any stretch of the imagination, with lush layers of vocals, keyboards, trippy effects, and the occasional meaty guitar riff permeating a sound that at times is endearing, and others meandering. A tune like "The Kandinsky Group" offers up 10+ minutes of calming noise which eventually burst into metallic, psychedelic hardcore, while other tracks like "The Polyarnik", "Black Swan", "Darkness", and "April 10th" just kind of drift along, occupying a space that hints at either Brit pop or ambient noise. Probably the most intriguing tracks here at "Away Absent" and "A Year With No Summer", as some prog-rock styled keyboards float over darting guitar textures, not quite post rock, not quite metal, not quite psychedelia, but offering bits of each. Overall, A Year With No Summer is a somewhat puzzling album, as it does have moments of intrigue, but there aren't enough of them to overcome the many mixed messages and lack of cohesion that it suffers throughout.
Track Listing
1) A Year With No Summer
2) April 10th
3) Darkness
4) The Kandinsky Group
5) The Polyarnik
6) Black Swan
7) Away Absent