Review: Glassing – From the other side of the mirror
Predictabillity offers comfort. This is true for every aspect of life, up to and including music. Peole figure out which genre they like and what kind of song, album, and music to expect. This holds true for individual artists as well – when you grab an Iron Maiden record, you want to get the full Iron Maiden experience and not an exercise in experiments with gabba and speed metal.
The same holds true for musicians and creators as well – it helps immensily to know how the next song or record should sound like, even though experimenting is satisfying too.
Glassing obviously love to experiment, to play with the listener’s expectations, and to generally not give a fuck about genres or genre conventions.
And when broken down on the level of the individual song, the new Glassing album is amazing: every song is a finely crafted piece of music. Post-metal, black metal, postrock, mathcore, shoegaze, sludge, noise rock, screamo, and post-hardcore – you name it, you can probably find traces of it in Glassings sound. “From the Other Side of the Mirror” is banger of a song, “Nothing Touches You” is full of amazing melodies, and “Defacer” beats with a black, sludgy heart.
On a general level does the album lack focus. It’s unpredictable for the listener and one has to be aware of it and ready (and willing) for a rollercoaster ride full of great ideas and genius.
If you’re ready for it, “From the other Side of the Mirror” is an excellent choice – and is available in several fine looking vinyl variants.