Lithany
Self Titled
7.7
What is there to do with a band that takes its cues from a genre pioneer too often? Especially when the band unquestionably has something unique and exciting to offer in its own right? Do you berate them for remaining too conservative with their songwriting or exalt them for the differences that make them special?
Take fabulously creative rhythms, add some occasionally spectacular riffs, but keep it all listenably moving with great chord phrasing and a vocalist who seems to not care that he can sing because he is too busy making music. Engineer it all to perfection. With professional musicianship and songwriting skills like these, you as a band can go places most groups only see from the perspective of other people's records.
Is it THAT good? No. But it's fucking close. My complaints about this record are that the band sometimes let themselves belabor a point longer than is reasonable. Even great sounding music can be allowed to wander around for too long. Tighten it up a little, maybe? Of greater concern is the similarity with Tool. This is a truly troubling complaint because of what Lithany COULD be doing. The similarity can be ignored when the compositions are regarded as entire entities, but we shouldn‘t have to make the effort. This band is far more compelling when it holds to the strangeness and intricacy it develops on its own.
The bottom line is that Lithany is just screaming to be set free. I want this band to release material that it can call its own without any derivation. There is a fucking fantastic, original and masterful record in this band, perhaps many. But until the Tool monkey is off their back we are not going to get it. And it's such a tiny step to take. It's a hairline between similar and derivative and this band simply needs to find itself on the other side. For now this is just a good record. Christ, motherfuckers...take that step.
