Forgive Us Our Trespasses is the second album from Brooklyn's A Storm Of Light featuring Josh Graham who is heavily connected to Neurosis, which if you hear this disc won't come as a huge shock. That's not to say the ASOL are Neurosis copyists but there is a pretty obvious musical comparison between the bands, however the themes here are more stretched out and progressive and it's also possible to notice traces of Isis in their sound.
With a story loosely based on what happens to Earth once the human race's time here is done and some wonderful, striking artwork in the booklet to accompany the story, what is on offer is some long, intense, doom laden progressive tracks which sometimes pack one hell of a punch and in places drag beyond belief.
The album is linked together by the trilogy of spoken word "Law Of Nature" tracks, which are voiced by Lydia Lunch who informs us of a barren, forlorn time. However her voice sounds a little "budget horror flick" and the passages do little to add to the atmosphere of the rest of the album, although they do offer a little respite from the singular tempo of everything else round about them.
Played as one whole piece of music Forgive Us Our Trespasses works reasonably well, although I would be lying if I was to say that if any of the numerous plays I gave the album, it once managed to maintain my interest from start to finish. As standalone tracks most of the desolate despair is completely lost, in fact if you randomly flick through the songs it is virtually impossible to distinguish one from another.
When however you do give the album time to sink in and wash over you in its entirety there are moments of merit. The crunching guitars of "Tempest" are quite compelling, the slow build and the mournful orchestral feel of "The Light In Their Eyes" would be perfect for a slow death after a movie fight scene and the almost Muse on slow-mo of "Trouble Is Near" could have you weeping with the monumental feel of emptiness.
This is most certainly one of those albums that can only be appreciated fully when you are in the right frame of mind to do so, however even then, the level of despair and the stolid, slow pace takes too much of a toll to allow you to feel fully satisfied by it.
File under good, but hard going.
Track list:
1. Alpha (Law Of Nature Pt. 1)
2. Amber Waves Of Gray
3. Tempest
4. The Light In Their Eyes
5. Trouble Is Near
6. Arc Of Failure (Law Of Nature Pt. 2)
7. Midnight
8. Across The Wilderness
9. Time Our Saviour (Law Of Nature Pt. 3)
10. Omega
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