Wackiness.org Reviews Archive § Music

A Silver Mount Zion--The Silver Mount Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-La-La Band--The Silver Mount Zion Orchestra and Tra-La-La Band with Choir--are moving up in the chain of symphonic Canadian instrumental rock bands. Their first two albums, 2000's He Has Left Us Alone But Shafts of Light Still Sometimes Grace the Corners of Our Rooms and 2001's Born Into Trouble as the Sparks Fly Upward, were interesting enough, but never really offered the listener anything they couldn't find on a Godspeed You Black Emperor! album. With their newest and longest-titled album yet, Silver Mount Zion etc. add something never experienced on their earlier albums, or Godspeed's albums, or the albums of any of the other similar instrumental groups: vocals! Yes! Each song has vocals, be they by one singer, or a choir of singers. The vocals are done quite well; of all the many ways that it could be bad, the band wisely chose one that turned out pretty well, and instead of it coming off as singing, it's more of a complementary instrument. The album also finds them at their rockin'est: past releases were played only on classical strings, but on This is Our Punk-Rock, electric guitars and drum-sets are used more frequently. Despite this, it's still essentially the same kind of music as their previous, but the addition of the rockingness, combined with the something-new of the vocals, makes the album less melancholic and more accessible, their best yet, and something worth listening to.

Rating

74/100

Reviewer

Noah Jackson

Published

August 21, 2003