Album of the year goes to Native Construct for the time being

There are so many bands out there that copy the same style over and over until it becomes boring but yet people still keep listening to it. Native Construct’s debut album Quiet World can give you the hope that music can still be original and keep you intrigued. This album will dazzle you, surprise you, and give you that musical satisfaction that every music lover craves.

I’ll start off by pointing out that Quiet World is indeed a concept album with a very fable-like concept. Here’s what the band has to say about it:

"Quiet World is about a guy who loves a girl. The guy is a bit of an odd and eccentric person - an outcast. He's also a mute, and a little unstable, as it turns out. The girl doesn't return his feelings, but he can't bring himself to let go. As his unrequited passion for her devolves into obsession and eventual resentment, his mind begins to slip further and further away. He convinces himself that he can't be loved because of his condition and abnormalities. So he decides to create for himself a new, fantastic world of which he has complete control - a world where there are no oddballs or outcasts. A world where everyone is surrounded by people who are just like themselves: a much quieter world. It's at this point that the first track of the album, "Mute," begins. And it turns out that many of the subjects of his new world are not as content living this way as he is. In the second track we see a new character, the Archon, rise up and unite his people in the clouds with the once distant people in the sea. He leads an opposition to "Sinister Silence," as the people come to call him. The rest of the album unfolds with events within the "Quiet World" and manifestations of the enduring struggle between the Archon and Sinister Silence. The lone exception is track number four, "Your Familiar Face," which steps out of this world for a moment to give a closer look at the events prior to the first track and the tragedy of Sinister Silence."

From the first track on the album it is realized that this band really knows what they are doing. This is an album crafted in between the band members’ studies at Berklee. They wrote, recorded, and produced this album while they were in college; if that’s not impressive then I don’t know what is. Their album has so much variety in it but yet they manage to keep the tone similar enough to make it sound like all the songs belong on the same album. This also isn’t a rock album that just contains the stereotypical instruments. They include instruments like the saxophone, trumpet, piano, and many others. They are peppered throughout the album but they never feel like they were thrown in to say they put a saxophone in one of their songs. Everything compliments each other. There are so many different styles involved in this album, they get influences from jazz, rock, metal, black metal, broadway play musicals, and many other sources.

This band seems to have a lot of Dream Theater and Queen influences in their music which is a pretty big compliment because both those bands did wonders for their music genres. The last song on the album, Chromatic Aberration, their 12 minute epic, is probably the best progressive rock song I have heard in years. One thing I really liked was their ability to write catchy riffs and infectious compositions without making them sound like everything else. Their music is so complex but its easily digestable and will leave you hungry for more.

These guys are a truly talented bunch and I have already listened to the whole album dozens of times. The album keeps you engaged when youre listening to it and when youre not. Sometimes I find myself replaying certain sections of the album in my head randomly throughout the day. Overall I was very impressed.

9.5/10

Unknown

Author & Editor

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