Sculptured

Continuing on with the strange Metal of sorts this week, it's time for a band that hails from the Pacific Northwest and who has never played a live show. Sculptured is the brain child of Agalloch guitarist Don Anderson. Actually Sculptured came before Agalloch. The band has been around since 96 and has only released 3 albums to date. The last album, 'Embodiment: Collapsing Under The Weight Of God'  was released in 08. Sculptured is an unique band in the sense that much like Agalloch, it incorporates various styles of Metal and blends it into a unique mix. Each album is similar, yet worlds apart. To prove my point I've uploaded their debut and one of my all time favorite Metal albums ever, 'The Spear Of The Lily Is Aureoled'. Recorded in the Winter of 97 and released in the Spring of 98, the album is a unique mix of folk metal and death metal of sorts. You could go as far as calling it Avant-Garde Death Metal. A mix of guitars, horns and blast beats at time, set up the listener for a very interesting trip. This, like all their albums is a headphone album. So bust of the headphones and crank this album.

I got into Sculptured around the same time I found Agalloch. The unique mix of a horn section into an Avant-Garde Metal album really pulled me in. That and the mix of clean and death vocals works really well here. Lyrically the album is somewhat of a love story. Songs like 'Her Silence' and 'Almond Beauty' are just nothing short of pure epic in my book. This is one of those records I can play every week and never get tired of. I could probably do that with each of their albums in fact. Little known band that deserves a lot of credit.

Download