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Mar 23, 2011For sure, Sabbath, Zeppelin and more obscure bands of the era like Wishbone Ash loom large over the proceedings, but Arbouretum breathes new life into a long-dormant genre with its melodic flair, the freshness of its approach and the tastefulness of its playing-and to call a band whose average song length is six to seven minutes "tasteful" is no faint praise.
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Feb 24, 2011Arbouretum succeed through absolute concentration and craftsmanship, eschewing the easy crescendoes of mid-aughts post-rock in favor of more organically evolving swells.
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Feb 23, 2011The results are shufflingly majestic, loaded with blissful truths and, it must be said, startlingly close to perfect.
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MojoApr 6, 2011Expanding on the rolling grooves of 2009'a Song Of The Pearl, The Gathering is a sonic monster. [Apr 2011, p.101]
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Mar 8, 2011Arbouretum brings back that good old fashioned psychedelia to rock music with its fourth album The Gathering.
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UncutFeb 25, 2011After tinkering with their lineup for this fourth album, Baltimore's Arbouretum have emerged heavier, moodier and better than ever. [Mar 2011, p.83]
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Feb 23, 2011Perhaps best not to take the "inner images" stuff too seriously, but let's not begrudge a terrific-sounding rock band a few high concepts now and then.
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Feb 23, 2011The Gathering is Arbouretum's "bridge too far"; there is no return because this set is a destination, not a development.
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Feb 23, 2011Appropriately for an album called The Gathering, the esthetic Arbouretum achieves feels somewhat monolithic--overarching and whole instead of neurotic and splintered--and in this manner should provide healing properties for a psyche battered around by all the little specifics of daily life.
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Apr 7, 2011Pretty cheesy lyrics are by no means strangers to this genre, but that doesn't make them any more welcome. Still, few modern-day axemen can noodle like Heumann, which, let's face it, is why anyone should listen to Arbouretum in the first place.
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Feb 23, 2011The Gathering is weighted in every way, heavy with distortion-crusted guitars, sluggish tempos and an earnest, perhaps even over-earnest, search for meaning.
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Feb 23, 2011The Gathering is a revitalizing roll in the dirt, particularly for listeners put off by hard rock that either forays too far into other genres or is too polished by spit-shined production.