Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Aylwin - The Arch Holder (2021)

I have listened through this release some three or four times now and I am still at the same level of understanding of it as I was after one listen. Aylwin play acceptable but unremarkable atmospheric bm, yet for some reason feel that showcasing this in one thirty-minute track is necessary to capture their sound. I am almost sure though that this track has three individual parts, so I am unclear as to why this all got put into one track.

Starting and ending with the sounds of waves hitting a shoreline (a sound which is revisited during the track also) simply pans out two-minutes of play time before they ever get to the opening riff. Although this start seems representative of the artwork that depicts some monolith-rock formation in the middle of a vast expanse of water it doesn’t really marry up with anything else. The brighter light of the artwork is carried through into the music I suppose as this is not particularly grim bm really.

It lacks quality that justifies the constant play of one track though. It never successfully combines the instrumentation and atmospherics into any triumphant pinnacle or peak. The nearest we get is a lull in the middle of the track when some melodic strings compliment the atmospheric ocean theme before we crash back into a soaring bm tremolo riff. Even as individual parts the instruments lack anything outstanding in the way that they are performed and so there is no real sense of cohesion, and these guys are not the tightest of players when it comes to being a collective. I find it hard to take The Arch Holder seriously as a release as it sounds like a rehearsal with some atmospherics thrown in for the hell of it.

There is no richness to the riffs, no subtlety to the transitions and the cavernous and gruff vocals just get lost in the maelstrom as opposed to underlining the emotion behind what is being performed. I sense that if I had four, thirty-minute slots of my life to dedicate to this in one sitting each then I might be more enamoured with it. However, without anything tangible to grasp as a high-point I struggle to see the need for such a lengthy release in all honesty. Just breakout the tracks guys.