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8.0/10
Yves Tumor, best known for his unique sound mix of alt-rock, psych-rock, R&B, and electronic has released a follow-up project to his critically acclaimed album 'Heaven To A Tortured Mind', longly titled 'Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume'. This album offers up a similar dark grime to his 2020 release, teased by the four singles "God Is A Circle", a captivatingly moody track with gorgeous layers of guitar, "Echolalia", a heavy way with a strong presence from Yves's breathy vocals and a gloomy electric guitar, "Heaven Surrounds Us Like A Hood" who's drums shine along with it's overall dense instrumental, and finally "Parody", one of the stand-out tracks on the album with a lively beat and grim layers of electric guitar. Yves comes through with a solid fourth release, with only minor issues.
Following the moody intro track was "Lovely Sewer", a meh track that didn't offer up much vocally; it's a good vibe out track that doesn't hit hard. "Meteora Blues" was a unique cut, coming through with snippets of acoustic guitar that took some getting used to, but had lovely moments of that signature rough-electric guitar sound that is present multiple times on this album, and closes out with beautiful harmonies.
The denseness these tracks carried instrumentally was unique, especially on "Operator", where you can hear multiple layers of vocals, strings, and drums, but it's mixed in a way where it's so subtle. Yves also provides a solid vocal performance on this track--his energy is contagious. "In Spite Of War" felt completely different with its punkish emo feel set by Yves's whiny tone. Unfortunately, it's short and forgettable, not giving me much to hold onto in two minutes and thirty-one seconds. "Purified By The Fire" and "Ebony Eye", however, do just the opposite. "Purified By The Fire" is so instrumentally entertaining with the beat going in so many different directions, sounding like a robot breaking down at times. It may be lyrically minimal, but it obviously wants you to focus on the industrial sounds it spills. "Ebony Eye" closes the album fairly strongly, going from a minimal drum beat to this grand, a theatrical synth-filled psychedelic wonderland in the intro, quickly going back into that drum beat complimented by a subtle electric guitar. I especially enjoyed that bright synth that just shines in the background when the beat drops.
Yves Tumor shows that he still has that unique experimental flair to him. Although this album offers up great instrumentals, vocals, and solid lyrics, some tracks seemed to just mesh with each other. As I stated earlier, that dark electric guitar noise was present in a lot of songs, and although I do enjoy the sound of it, the album did feel like a drag at times with the same sounding base instrumental being in a lot of tracks. On Yves's next project, I'd love to see him branch out even more than now, trying new twists, and instruments, and even expanding his vocal ability a bit more.
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