Mondrian Oak - Through Early Seed

The band is called Mondrian Oak (what's in a name), but had better be called Pellicano. Because if their debut album 'Through Early Seed' is something, it is an Italian interpretation of Pelican. Should you waste many words on such copycat behaviour? Not really, Pelican already released a very fine album this year ('What We All Come To Need') and Mondrian Oak's release adds absolutely nothing to that. So when you look for atmospheric instrumental I would first head for Pelican.
Besides the lack of originality, the music sounds fine: a nice roaring and doomy sound, mixed with intimate semi-acoustic passages. Just as we know it from at least a dozen other instrumental post-metal bands. But suppose you are a fan of the genre, be quick, because there are only 300 copies of the album available, making it a possible collector's item. Do not buy it as an investment though, because I doubt it will turn out to be a good investment in twenty years time.
72/100
Review by: Jan-Simon
Published in Lords of Metal - 2009

Pare proprio che la scena post- italiana - dove al post potete agganciare in ugual modo -core, -metal o -rock, a seconda delle opinioni - stia iniziando a sfornare band di un certo spessore artistico/qualitativo e sperimentale. Dopo i più volte elogiati Three Steps To The Ocean, è la volta di questi Mondrian Oak ad attirare la nostra attenzione tramite una proposta intimista, difficile, azzardata ed ovviamente strumentale al 100%. Due chitarre, un basso ed una batteria, più sporadici interventi alle tastiere: si gioca tutto su questi perni in casa Mondrian Oak, formazione capace di spaziare tra l'apatico e straziante prolungarsi di arpeggi cupissimi e l'ondeggiante violenza di groove ipnotici e coinvolgenti. Certo, bisogna essere preparati all'ascolto di "Through Early Seed", debutto full-length fuori per la indie belga Consouling Sounds, ma in questo inverno ghiacciato e buio non vediamo cosa vi possa frenare nel concedere poco più di mezzora del vostro tempo libero per fermarsi a contemplare un po' e riflettere placidamente sull'onda emotiva delle note di brani quali "Clouds Collide" o "Monolith", forse gli episodi migliori dell'album. La nervosa e carica "Harvest" e la più introspettiva "Drift" sono i due estremi di una tracklist che scorre via senza noia e senza passi falsi, salvo porre una lieve critica alla produzione del lavoro, che nelle parti più metalliche non risulta del tutto all'altezza. Piace molto, comunque, l'appeal dei Mondrian Oak, sempre se si ha il coraggio di approcciarsi a sonorità ostiche come le loro. Bravi, speriamo di risentirne parlare!
7.0
Published in Metalitalia - 2009

There are some albums that immediately leap out and grab you by the throat; 'Through Early Seed' isn't one of those. This Italian band seem to delight in capriciously slipping in under the radar: while the comparisons are easily summed up in the term 'instrumental post-metal', listening to it is a very curious experience. While other bands make concessions draw you in, Mondrian Oak's choice of chords don't seem to have quite the same effect: passages briefly spring to life, but rather then hit that chord change or up the tempo, they slow things right down to a pace even Mogwai would consider sedate. In fact, they have a lot more in common with the Scottish indie meisters than their brawnier American cousins: Mondrian Oak's emotional weight comes from almost unbearable stillness rather than smashing into a riff like you'd expect.
Opening track 'Clouds Collide' is a case in point. It becomes clear that the main focus here is not on the grinding repetitive riff - that functions more of a bridge motif. Instead, the usual structure is turned on its head, with a delicately picked passage, with the heavy riff dovetailing it. 'Harvest' is similar, but familiar. The contrast is less extreme, and the quiet passages retain the similar sense of urgency and malevolence to the louder main riff. 'Drift', however is when things really start to get curious: it's bisected neatly in half, and gradually you begin to understand that this is a band with a singular approach to the ebb and flow dynamic characteristic to the post-metal genre. While the running times are relatively short, they truly live up to the proviso 'epic'; especially on album closer 'Through Haze', which is most assuredly not in a hurry to finish. And then suddenly it is, leaving behind a most strange sensation.
Ultimately though, the main problem with this album is that it is just too damn short. At 35 minutes spread over 6 tracks, you get the feeling it's over almost as soon as it's started. While just over half an hour for an album is paltry in any case, this is doubly so a problem with music of this ilk. While you could argue its brevity is not a problem if you're paying attention, the fact remains that the paltry running time reduces the mouth-opening wonder this could have induced if they had given themselves more time to unfurl their wings and truly soar.
Review by: Steve Jones
Published in MTUK Metal'zine - 2009

Zu behaupten, dass der Postrock davon zehre besonders innovativ zu sein wäre angesichts des nicht von der Hand zu weisenden Hypes, den das Genre in letzter Zeit erfuhr, wohl vermessen - nicht zuletzt aufgrund des einhergehenden Zuwachses an Veröffentlichungen. Zwar mag der Postrock mittlerweile, was schon als Widerspruch in sich scheint, seinen progressiven Charakter verloren haben, dafür scheint eine einfache Logik zu greifen, die sich so in kaum einem anderen Genre erfüllt: Die besten Bands haben den größten Erfolg.
Zwar gibt es einen fruchtbaren Underground und daher natürlich Ausnahmen, dennoch: die geläufigsten Namen sind die Paradebeispiele. GY!BE, MOGWAI, SIGUR RÓS, RED SPAROWES, PELICAN - diese Bands kennt zurecht jeder.
Besonders interessant für diese Rezension sind die letztgenannten PELICAN. Nicht, weil ein Album ihrer zur Besprechung stünde, sondern weil sie für MONDRIAN OAKs "Through Early Seed" das unüberhörbare Vorbild sind. Das, was die italienische Band von sich hören lässt, ist symptomatisch für den Innovationsverlust im eigentlich progressiv angelegten Postrock. Kurzum: Das, was man da hört, das ist kein Novum. Böse Zungen könnten sogar von Plagiatismus sprechen, doch soweit muss man überhaupt nicht gehen, um "Through Early Seed" als das zu charakterisieren, was es ist: ein grundsolides Album, das leider kein Mensch braucht. Das denkbar einfache Grundgerüst bilden Gitarre, Schlagzeug und Bass. Kein Gesang, kein Schnickschnack. Selbstredend geben ruhige und treibende Passagen sich die Klinke gegenseitig in die Hand. Dabei muss man fairerweise feststellen, dass MONDRIAN OAK passagenweise gar nicht mal übel klingen. Die Betonung liegt auf passagenweise - womit wir beim größten Problem der Band angelangt wären. Sie schafft es nicht, eine Musik, deren atmosphärische Wirkung letztlich darauf basiert, dass scheinbar heftige Kontraste filigran und offenbar völlig natürlich miteinander verwoben werden, bis sie letztlich zu einer heterogenen Masse verschmelzen, so zu konstruieren, dass sie sich nicht in sich selbst verliert. Heftig ausgedrückt bedeutet das tatsächlich, dass MONDRIAN OAK ruhige und heftige Passagen aneinanderreihen, ohne dabei die Gesamtwirkung des Songs im Auge zu behalten. Das wäre die Kunst, die die Spreu vom Weizen trennt. Für die Italiener ist es die Gratwanderung, bei der sie in den Abgrund stürzen.
So bleibt als Resümee im Grunde nur die Selbstbestätigung: Kein Mensch braucht dieses Album. Nicht, solange MONDRIAN OAK bei den enorm wichtigen Details keine Fortschritte zeigen und vor allem nicht, solange es Bands wie PELICAN gibt.
4/10
Review by: Olvido
Published in metal.de - 2010

With the post metal scene it will go in the same direction as with al the other "scenes" At first there are some bands that define the sound after that bands will copy the sound of the originators and after that the scene will burst and the strong ones will survive. Mondrian Oak has obviously listened to those originators such as Neurosis, Pelican and Cult of Luna. Especially that last band constantly comes in mind. It seemed that "Somewhere Along The Highway" has been a big inspiration for these Italian guys. Unlike Cult of Luna Mondrian Oak is an instrumental band which you see more in this genre. With instrumental albums it is always more difficult to captivate the whole album through. The most important thing with post metal though are mostly the contrasts between the slower ambient like parts and the outbursting heavy metallic parts. There's nothing wrong with the ambient parts presented here. They're interesting and let you flow away into another dimension. It is with the heavy parts that Mondrian Oak is lacking something. This definitely has something to do with the production which is not as great as on the albums from the "masters" mentioned earlier in this review. Otherwise Mondrian Oak has to do something to sound more original. So what's left is a band that must try to do something innovative. Otherwise they won't be reckoned as a "strong one" and automatically won't survive.
60/100
Published in Mario's Metal Mania - 2010