Thee Silver Mt. Zion - Kollaps Tradixionales

More than a decade after we first saw founding member Efrim Menuck stepping out of the shadow of Godpeed You! Black Emperor, Kollaps Tradixionales shows Mt Zion delicately combining the lessons of their previous works. Swathes of the sinister orchestral minimalism that denoted He Has Left Us Alone... surface, more caustic than before, with shrill guitar and violin coiling aggressively around one another on I Fed My Metal Bird... and Bury 3 Dynamos. The shifting, mournful punk-folk epics of recent years are also well represented. Whilst not quite the equal of 2005's phenomenal template God Bless Our Dead Marines, they certainly rise and fall with captivating skill, especially the beautiful guitar refrain of opener There Is A Light. Kollaps Tradixionales sees the band's early instrumental tendencies mesh tightly with their latter-day love of vocal harmony and lyricism and, for those willing to invest their attentions sufficiently, it's a genuinely emotional experience. [Chris Cusack]