Flight Of Sleipnir, The - Eventide (Black Vinyl) (Sealed) (LP)

THE FLIGHT OF SLEIPNIR are one of the metal underground's most unique and consistently compelling bands. Forming in Colorado in 2007, this hydra-headed ensemble has built an always adventurous canon that defies easy categorization but always is in service of The Muse. On their vast canvas do they paint with tones of doom, prog, black metal, folk, post-rock, and even country. But, THE FLIGHT OF SLEIPNIR's muse is very much of the present, as much as it reverentially draws inspiration from the past: what matters most is that Now, and in this present arrives Eventide. Arguably the band's starkest and sparsest work to date, Eventide is an audial rumination on the vast mysteries of nighttime. Its cover depiction of the stars and nightingale are visual springboards for where THE FLIGHT OF SLEIPNIR whisk the listener into the sprawling beyond of sleep and darkness, of dreams and impossibility; Eventide's artwork suitably keeps apace with the band's continually elegant standards of visual presentation, always delivered by founding drummer/vocalist David Csicsely. With the opening notes inviting the listener forward with a brave sense of warmth, the album begins building patient vistas of splendor, tension, and release. Always moving in a most labyrinthine manner, THE FLIGHT OF SLEIPNIR's strident density is ably balanced by the band's exploration of dynamics, here on Eventide allowing for an even-greater emphasis on simmering softness - and the results are beautiful, breathtaking, and absolutely cathartic. Their ensemble playing is simply astounding: this is the work of a true BAND, of master musicians putting their considerable instrumental expertise to endlessly evocative use in service of The Song...and yes, The Muse.