How epic can Constants get? That’s the real question one needs to ask on the band’s third album Pasiflora. It’s hard to imagine that the follow-up to If Tomorrow The War (An album produced by Justin Broadrick) could get any bigger but that’s just what Pasiflora has managed to do. Part Echo & The Bunnymen, part Sisters Of Mercy, encompassed by the spirit of Type O Negative, Pasiflora is more a dreamscape than an album. It’s a state of mind and being that proves why Will Benoit and co. continually live up to the hype.
The all encompassing light of “Sunrise” opens up Pasiflora and sounds like nothing off of If Tomorrow The War. In fact, it’s very hard to think that this is the same band that made that album. “Hourglass” takes the band even further away into the ether (Especially with those airy vocals that permeate throughout) while “Passenger” seamlessly meshes deftones-style guitar crunch on top of a gothic aesthetic. After the instrumental interlude of “Sunset”, Pasiflora changes the speed and the mood with the somber pair of “Austere” and “1985” before closing with the driving, mysterious sounds of “Crosses”.
As a whole, Pasiflora is the perfect combination of The Foundation, The Machine, The Ascension and If Tomorrow The War while not sounding like either of them. Pasiflora is the next stage in Constants evolution and if this album is even the smallest indication of where they’re headed, the future looks bright indeed!
Pasiflora is available on July 24th. Check out what The Mylene Sheath has to offer on Constants package deals right here.
Grade: A
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