By: Gareth WatkinEl lenguaje como obstáculo | facebook | bandcamp |
Utilizing elements of post-rock for sombre and emotive moments, and elements of post-metal for an intense rush, the debut album I from Argentinian instrumental band El lenguaje como obstáculo (Language As An Obstacle) showcases a strong understanding of various styles, offering a varied album experience that’s constantly shifting and changing. What is presented is a creative album experience, one that utilizes dynamics in a strong manner, without relying too much on building up into noisy crescendos. Certain elements featured on I do indeed echo back to tiresome elements of the post-rock/post-metal genres, but there’s a greater effort at play here, one that shows more thought going into the whole process than most others.
I showcases many strengths as it progresses along. Whilst many seem to rely on building up to loud noisy crescendos in the genre, El lenguaje como obstáculo seem to instead take many varying turns on their album, playing gentle emotive and mournful passages that suddenly turn into intense noisy moments of panic and distress. There’s a constant mystery of what direction the tracks will take themselves in, whether things will stay gentle or become explosive. It’s an interesting creative choice that the band has opted for, and one that certainly works well in showcasing that creativity.
At times, I seems to suffer a little bit from being repetitive, with El lenguaje como obstáculo repeating the same motifs over and over in a track, rather than adding in a new element. Whilst this means they’ve stayed away from the very over-used techniques so often seen on albums like this, it does mean there’s sometimes not enough variety in some of the track to really warrant their long running times. It seems everything is definitely on the right path for the band, but perhaps really honing on what works and what is simply filler would help elevate it all to a stronger position.
El lenguaje como obstáculo certainly seem to have a good and strong style when it comes to their own branch of post-rock/post-metal music, and whilst some smoothing of those rough corners would greatly benefit the band, there’s certainly something admirable about those roughened corners in the first place. Whilst the shift between quiet and loud dynamics certainly isn’t new when it comes to the genre (see early Mogwai), there’s something interesting about El lenguaje como obstáculo take on the whole concept.
