Review by Rachel Jablonski
Asthenia! I am sincerely worn out. Anxious to pour out my feelings on a fine album called Beneath the Real and what happens as I’m collecting my thoughts to do so? Suddenly I get stuck on one agonizing detail and wandering my mind goes into a sidetracked search for a satisfactory conclusion.
Notions of reality have occupied philosophical minds since the dawn of human existence. What is real? Unreal is the fact that my mind is so tied in knots over this at the moment. Yet the conceptual entanglement created by the phrase “beneath the real” persists. What does this mean? Are there layers to the real? What is real and how the hell can I find what is beneath it? I am prepared to speak highly about album content, but for now I can’t even get past the album title!
Beneath the Real is the debut effort from the Greek band called Morning After. Two brothers comprise the band and have created eleven solid tracks of crisp, clear sound that are sure to catch the attention of listeners worldwide. Smooth, stimulating guitar encompasses the album with densely attractive integrity. Excellent production animates and intensifies the overall genuine feeling as well. Though each song is sung in English, it is clear that the vocalist is not a native English speaker. This seems to give the work further uniqueness and adds a layer of innocence that I have not had the fortune of experiencing particularly often.
Leave it to a band from Greece to heighten my English vocabulary. “Asthenia,” one of the catchiest songs on the album had me wondering about word meaning with its unusual title. Is it in Greek? No, the word asthenia is indeed English, friends. I admit to opening up a dictionary to find the meaning: “loss or lack of bodily strength; weakness, debility.” Though an interesting discovery, the word meaning surely does not apply to the song musically. The wind-chime/space-age/church bell sounds at the beginning of the song quickly lead into powerful guitar that I simply fall right into it. The heavy riff is dark, smooth, and luring. Complementary synth, drum, and vocal layers blend together creating a track impossible not to sing along with.
A formula seems to be almost at work through much of the album. Dark, slow verses incorporated with very personal, internal lyrics turn into more upbeat, all-inclusive lyrics throughout the choruses. Though this may be a tendency, the album still undoubtedly contains unique tracks that remain fresh with each listen. This type of combination is apparent in the remarkable track “Day of the Moon” however. Growling vocals contrasted with alternated melody begin the track overtop a most tantalizing rhythmic guitar. Automatically I begin to tap my foot and await the powerful guitar solo that I know is soon to come.
In thinking more carefully about many of the lyrics throughout the album, I can see perhaps where the title is coming from. Much of the album consists of the ideas of internal perceptions, loneliness, memories, and pain… aspects beneath physical realness. Not sure how well I have convinced myself of being satisfied with this as a conclusion to my unforeseen abstract thinking, however that is for now what is Beneath the Real.