A Storm of Light Build a Constructive Apocalypse

Posted on Nov 19th 2009 10:00AM by Jon Wiederhorn Comments
A Storm of Light

For their second studio album, 'Forgive Us Our Trespasses,' Brooklyn, N.Y. post-metal band A Storm of Light concocted a conceptual thread that would match the intensity of the doomy riffs and turbulent atmospherics. "The whole idea is based on the theory that the planet is a conscious being that has been sleeping for years," frontman Joshua Graham tells Noisecreep. "Over the course of the record, the earth wakes up and realizes what humanity's done."

Songs like the epic 'Midnight' and the majestic 'Across the Wilderness' are sonically entrancing, filled with equal parts desperation and euphoria. And by the conclusion, it feels like there's a hint of hope that mankind might have survived its plight -- but no such luck. "In the end, the earth basically destroys humanity so that it can live in peace until the end of its own days," Graham says.

A Storm of Light's latest isn't the first album about the end of the world, and it surely won't be the last (it probably won't even be the last this month). But what separates A Storm of Light from other doomsayers -- aside from their tremendous artistry -- is Graham's over-arcing intent.

"The album is sort of apocalyptic, but it's not high school apocalyptic," he explains. "It's kind of serving to get people to think about things or maybe consider stuff that they can do to help in a productive way."

Themes of awareness via paths of destruction and rebirth surface again and again in Graham's work, from the concert films he does for Neurosis to the exhibitions and video installations he has presented at art galleries in San Francisco.

"I'm actually really into environmentalism," he says. "Not to an insane degree, but it's a really good outlet for what I do with art and music. Those themes work for me, but they're not upfront and in your face. If people want to listen to the band as just music, that's totally cool. And if they want listen to it and maybe get something else out of it that's even better."

Filed under: Interview, New Music

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