Two bands. Four songs. Over forty minutes long. If that doesn’t tell you what your’e in for when you pick up the new split from All We Expected/Raum Kingdom then I don’t know what will. I’m already biased on Raum Kingdom because they rule like no other so I’ll save the praise of their contribution until later…..
…which brings us to All We Expected to start. Hailing from Belgium, AWE is an instrumental post-rock behemoth like no other. And that’s saying a lot as the abundance of “instrumental post-rock behemoths” out today can be overwhelming and sometimes tedious. Not AWE, though! Hailing from the Isis school of instrumental breakdowns with a little of We Made God’s atmospherics thrown in, AWE break from the mold when they truly let loose. “We’re Not Born To Live Like Brutes” continually enraptures but really sinks its teeth in after almost eight minutes when they shift to a full body banging jam.
Along with the veritable sonic tour-de-force of “Flood”, their second contribution to the split, All We Expected prove to be a newer band with definite staying power.
Then there’s Raum Kingdom who is the quintessential “band to watch” and deliver two tracks here which almost beat every other heavy release in 2015 with their intensity. We loved their last release already but the two tracks here (“Grace”, “Lost In The Hunt”) just make us love them even more. If Tool really embraced their dark, metal roots they’d sound like this. “Grace” is this epic slow burn of a dirge brought out of the dark by Dave Lee’s haunting vocals which instantly turn to a pained howl. Add Ronan Connor’s bass paired with Mark Gilchrist’s tribal thumping slowly building under Andrew Colohan’s screaming guitar and you have the second coming of Neurosis. “Lost In The Hunt” on the other hand is a spacey mystical journey that reveals even more of the depth that Raum Kingdom bring to the heavy universe.
The All We Expected/Raum Kingdom Split is out on September 14th. You’ve been warned. Click here to pre-order yours in a variety of formats and click the Bandcamp link below for a preview.