Aerosol Murmurations Review
Artist: Aerosol
Album: Murmurations
Ever since the passing of Sean Reinert in January 2020 there was (personal) hope that there would be some last recordings to be shared with the public. In the time prior to his death he had been working on material, of which we now see the release of 'Murmurations'.
In the almost 30 years that I have known the man and spoke to him on most of his European tours, it was obvious that he had a far wider taste than the metal side that most people know him for. During our chats we went through stuff from jazz to metal and all in between and aside. The versatility of his work was already known in Gordian Knot, the infamous C-187 and one of my favourites: Aeon Spoke.
During this project with Paul Masvidal they collaborated with John Hiler who now puts this into the world. 'Murmurations' is a wonderful trip into esoteric rock with references to R.E.M. and Kings X, but all with a touch of its own.
Some of late Cynic drummer Sean Reinert’s final recordings before leaving this mortal realm are now available for your listening pleasure. Sean plays on two songs being 'Delilah' and 'Fall Down'. 'Delilah' is an awesome display of ambient sounds, choruses and the almost back-beating of the drums. It holds a nice display of cymbal-technique and a swinging bass line. An absolute highlight.
In the two songs where Mike Heller (Fear Factory) touches the drum heads are 'Nevermore' and opener 'Nomad'. Mike is also way more laid back in this song then I've ever heard him. It's a nice display of a drummer serving the song and not so much trying to put his bass drum to the forefront so to speak. The same goes for the three Dirk Verbeuren tracks. His hammering on the later Megadeth albums has changed to a more sophisticated way of playing and this makes a song like 'Choke' so outstanding. This is greatly helped by the instrumentation and vocals of Matt Brownlie and John Hiler.
'Fall Down' closes the seven song stretch and is as uplifting as it is "The bitter pill of choking swallowed laughter.". Knowing that it's probably the last recording of Sean's drumming is a strange feeling, but the harmonies in the song put a smile on my face.
Listen for yourself on Spotify or via YouTube, you won't be disappointed.
"Murmurations is dedicated to Sean’s memory, and Aerosol are donating a portion of all proceeds to The Trevor Project, a 24/7 hotline for at-risk LGBTQ youth, in Sean’s name."
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