Speaking of lurching, post rock informed sludge metal…

Ohio’s Mouth of the Architect has long held my ear as one of the must crushing yet beautiful post metal bands around. Quietly is one of the most gorgeous and visceral records I’ve ever heard. So when a friend gave me this split, also featuring the instrumental, fellow Daytonians Kenoma, my hopes were high.

And that hope did not disappoint.

While the Mouth of the Architect side consists of a single song, “Sleepwalk Powder,” that song is seventeen minutes long. And it is an absolute opus.

It opens with a delicate post rock section, one guitar playing clean arpeggios while another riding ethereal notes on an eBow. When the band finally comes in in force, it is with gusto. Crunchy riffs follow the same major chord progression of the clean section with clean and screamed vocals singing in unison. Vocals retreat after a bit, drums pounding a warlike beat while the guitars remain in a major mode.

Then, still voiceless, the tonality starts to shift like storm clouds blowing into a sunny day. The storm bursts, tandem vocals sounding like distant thunder. And yet, all is not dour: there is some joy in the storm, dancers spinning gleefully in the cascade.

But then, the crash of the storm holds back for a second, and a more sinister note is revealed. All semblance to the celebratory major key gives way to doomy minor chord sustains. It pauses for a deep breath, then all hell gives way. The joy of the rain has been replaced by a fierce hurricane, trees and houses collapsing in the weight of the onslaught. When the song finally ends, there is no hope left. None of the joy from the opening opens remains, its memory buried under the rubble.

After one hell of an A-side, Kenoma has their work cut out for them. It’s a common thing for bands on the B sides of splits to be forgotten (does anybody know anything about where Dawson High ended up after their split with The Juliana Theory?) And based on the strength of MotA’s side, it might seem that Kenoma is destined for the same fate.

Their side isn’t nearly as ambitious as the first, and rightly so: it would be a mistake to try to top that. Instead, they play as if they have nothing to prove. “The Nature of Empire” begins softly, the guitars meandering around an understated clean riff. It builds and swells to a bursting point, and when it finally explodes, it does so with a muscular swagger.

“1913” is not quite as patient, but is perhaps more pensive. Distorted chords crash, but not as much in violence as in lament. The song repeats the same progression for several minutes, slowly swelling with each coda until its interrupted by a more aggressive riff that wrests the song away and rushes to the ending.

This split could have been worthwhile for the Mouth of the Architect track alone (their longest, as far as I’m aware). But with the addition of Kenoma’s impressive contribution, it proves that there’s something special happening in Dayton.

Of all places.