Thee Silver Mt. Zion is a band that inspires nothing short of reverence in their fans. Efrim Menuck’s troupe of orchestral punks (don’t call them post-rock, whatever you do) have changed considerably since their debut “He Has Left Us Alone but Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corner of Our Rooms…” “Kollaps Tradixionales”, their 6th album, sees them moving in a, dare I say it, more conventional direction.
Two 15-minute epics bookmark the album, holy remnants of the near 20 minute soul-stirring tracks on previous album “13 Blues for 13 Moons”, yet the main body of the album gives way to twisted, skuzzy strings and manic yelping.
Second track “I built myself a metal bird” mixes baroque strings, slashed speakers, and Efrim yelping “dance you motherf*uckers!” It is a challenge, to find a statement so obviously crass as this, and goad the listener into disagreeing that it could never be as profound as “some hearts are true”.
This continues through “I Fed My Metal Bird the Wings of Other Metal Birds”, and collapses, exhausted into the title track, almost a eulogy of trying to keep up the pace. Flashes of the earlier, emotive sounding band appear in “Collapse Traditional (My Darling)”. Then an all too familiar wall of slow-burning fuzz, tribal drums and staccato strings signifies the beginning of the final battle.
Closer “’Piphany Rambler” spends 10 of its 14 minutes just threatening to explode, feedback and dissonant strings create a magical tension that unleashes itself in the most gorgeous of ways, with subtlety and composure.
Thee Silver Mt. Zion were conceived as a side project to Montreal collective Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and though comparisons are always drawn between the two, I think it is wholly unfair. On Kollaps Tradixionales more than ever, the band have drawn away from the formula of ‘waiting through the quiet part until it drops, then stick your head in the bass bins’. It is a challenging album, which blows wide open all the preconceptions of what post-rock should be (shit, I said it), and is another jewel in their already encrusted crown.
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