Subarachnoid Space – Eight Bells

Releasedate: 22-09-2009; Label: Crucial Blast
By: Sabine van Gameren

The formation Subarachnoid Space is coming from America. “Eight Bells” is their eight full length album.

The title is chosen wisely as this album is the band’s eighth release. Though, it has been quiet around them for quite a while. Their previous release dates back to 2005. The music is psychedelic and yet very ambient. Expect darkness and gloom, a start that’s quite modest where soon a breakdown leads to calmth. Hold on to this for a while and then it is time to rebuilt the strength in the second half of “Akathesia”, the second song on the album. Tenses getting sharpened until there is the climax. It is mainly the guitar that drives and lead you in the right direction.
When reaching the third song, you caught the most intense part on the record. For a full experience of this song, to capture it’s complete beauty, you close your eyes and disappear into the music . See the last two songs on “Eight Bells” as a cool down period from the first three songs as they won’t bring you any further no more.

As in the question: how approachable is this band? There is an answer that might be surprising. More people than expected will like this band due to the variation and the way they manage to capture interest with the riffs that in company of drums are often an demanding factor in the music. An extra pro for adopting this record in your collection is the stunning artwork of it. Stephen Kasner is the name of the one responsible for that and it is to say that he captured the atmosphere of the album perfectly.

Line Up:
Melynda Jackson – guitar
Daniel Barone – Bass
Daniel Osborne- guitar
Bryan Sours -drums

Tracklist: 01. Lilith 02. Akathesia 03. Hunter Seeker 04. Haruspex 05. Bird Signs

Links:
Subarachnoid Space MySpace