Holy Roman Empire – The Long Duree

For me, Holy Roman Empire will always be intricately connected to Rise Against. Never hearing their EP, my first introduction to the band was when vocalist Emily Schambra lent her singing talents to a few songs on The Sufferer & The Witness. While I had meant to check them out afterwards, I never got around to it and it wasn’t until the release of The Longue Duree, almost a year later, that my interested in the band was sparked again. Still, I failed to go and check out the record disute being interested in it but once I saw the band open for Rise Against I knew I had to finally give the band a proper listen.

Sadly though, their album isn’t quite as good as I had hoped as it does tend to drag on a little more than necessary. Despite that however, The Longue Duree still features a fair few shining moments; most notably within Schambra’s vocals. Very strong and featuring a very wide range, the vocals seem to be a merger of Agent M (Tsunami Bomb) and Anthony Green (Circa Survive)’s vocal styles. They are able to soar loudly and passionately in an almost atmospheric condition while still being able to fall back to earth and be intensely memorable and catchy (Vicarious Haunting being the most obvious example of this as it is on that track that Schambra really shines and shows the listener all the different singing styles she can do). On the other hand, the soaring vocals can also be a draw back at times as they begin to soar and grow too much for their own good (here the Anthony Green influence really starts to show). The reach is there and Schambra is able to hit all the needed notes but it seems to, sometimes, be lacking that memorable quality in the songs as the lyrics fail to be that catchy or really plant a seed in the listener’s head.

Musically, Holy Roman Empire successfully merges post-hardcore with pop sensibilities and it works really well. Very technical, the music is always impressive and interacts with Schambra’s vocals nicely. Driven by guitar and drums, the music reminds me of Muse and Saosin with a slightly darker edge to them at times. It’s very polished and smooth which becomes both a positive and negative aspect for the record. It’s positive because when it’s done right, the songs are great (Hail Mary, An Alliance of Thieves, The Age). The negative portions come in the same was the negative aspects of the vocals meaning that during the middle section of the record they start to become repetitive as it becomes too polished and smooth and nothing stands out anymore. It makes it so that by themselves the songs are good but combined they become slightly stale.

The only thing that The Longue Duree fails to do is consistently captivate the listener throughout its entire fourty some minutes. The songs that are good (Vicarious Haunting, Action Figures, Fire Drill) are great and worth many listens but they are surrounded by tracks that just pass by and are skippable. It creates for an uneven and long listen but I still really enjoy the record and while I may not pull it out to listen to over and over again, I am looking forward to hearing more from the band and will happily return to a select few tracks many times in the upcoming months.