Alesana – A Place Where The Sun Is Silent

Ambition is an undeniably admirable trait.  The desire to push one’s known limits is key to innovation and new ideas, and in the music industry – where imitation is the rule – any genuine effort is worth applause.  That being said, ambition shouldn’t be confused as a synonym for quality.  Taking a chance always runs the risk of failure.  In the case of post-hardcore/screamo outfit Alesana and their ambitious full length A Place Where The Sun Is Silent, an acute case of over indulgence stands as the culprit.

First off, just unpackaging this full hour-long Behemoth of a narrative proves overwhelming.  Fronted with a dramatically contrasted, lens-flare abusing cover featuring a castle in the clouds and mysterious female figure latter referenced as the “temptress,” a sense of confusion sets in.  Does the band want me to read the accompanying ten-page short story first?  Follow along with the graphic lyric illustrations?  Or just sit and embrace the music?  There’s no obvious answer, and as I soon found out, really just one big convoluted attempt at grandeur.

Alesana sets out to write a master narrative heavily reliant on listeners picking up track-by-track continuity.  While well intended and meticulously laid out, that the band hides so many essential cues either in the accompanying hardcore shrieks and bellows punctuating vocalist Shawn Mike’s falsetto, really underplays the lyrical message.  Tracks like “Beyond the Sacred Glass” and “Hand In Hand With The Damned” only feature a few standout lines, none of which highlight the crucial importance or introduction of the mysterious “temptress” figure – nor do they make obvious the growing sense that our protagonist is falling through some sort of inescapable nightmare.  For that matter, without the lyric and storybook, the album doesn’t particularly reveal itself as a thematic narrative (they’re certainly no And The Will Know Us By The Trail Of The Dead in that regard).  It’s as if the band wrote and recorded the album, later realizing that those on the outside might miss the purpose, so they slapped on a short story at the end.  And truth be told, the story ends in disappointment, more of less trivializing the entire affair (spoiler alert: everyone dies, and the band’s misguided use of irony is both anticlimactic and infuriating).

Musically though, A Place Where The Sun Is Silent sets out with far firmer footing.  As far as metalcore and screamo go, Alesana pace themselves appropriately for an album pushing the sixty minute mark.  Opener “The Dark Wood Of Error” might rely heavily on stage-inspired keys and strings, and “Before Him All Shall Shatter” may indulge similarly with the addition of Spanish language chanting, but the opening to each respective act tends to stand independently from that which follows.  The bulk of these songs remain rooted in guitar and rhythmic hooks, with the former taking a distinct control over solos and bridges in tracks like “Circle VII: Sins Of The Lion” despite the apparent production gloss that is a given in this genre (“Vestige” being a notable offender”).  All being considered though, the album lacks remarkable songs that reach out and grab the listener, or distance themselves from their neighbours.  They work together as a whole, but when the whole lasts nearly an hour, they end up straining that strength (especially in the lengthy tangents dragging out songs like “Lullaby Of The Crucified”).

Like a Hollywood blockbuster that gets lost in production, A Place Where The Sun Is Silent trips over its good intensions thanks to a storyboard of runaway ambitions.  Bogged down by a complicated and drawn-out narrative that gets lost in compositional translation, Alesana never quite emerges with the stand-out statement they aspire to.  Instead listeners are left with an average case of screamo/metalcore and a whole lot of packaging and pages.  While genre enthusiasts should get some mileage here, A Place Where The Sun Is Silent still lacks the desired impact.