Review Text
DIG CD with 16-pages booklet. There seems to be something sinister lurking beneath the beautiful landscapes of New England. Edgar Allan Poe, H. P. Lovecraft, and Stephen King, those American masters of the horror genre have been born and raised there, where they have also created their dark writings. It is hardly surprising that a band hailing from the infamous town of Salem, Massachusetts such as 1476 have created an album, which is heading down a dark road. Yet "In Exile" is not telling stories about witches, ghouls, or tentacled beings emerging from the depths. It is we, the people, who are on this path. On "In Exile", each song represents a world of it's own. It all started, when singer and multi-instrumentalist Robb Kavjian pondered upon that ancient question of where do people go when they die. In his mind, he started to imagine real persons and imaginary characters as mystical beings or deities. These avatars served as spiritual guides to their personal worlds during meditations that used visualisation techniques. This concept of individual worlds in the afterlife led to a stylistically quite diverse album, which does not make it easier to describe the band's sound. "In Exile" contains elements of folk, rock, metal, punk, and also a healthy pinch of post-punk, which can be summed up loosely as 'wayward occult rock'. 1476 were founded by Robb Kavjian and percussionist and drummer Neil DeRosa in Salem, Massachusetts. The 'first' album, which is still found being mentioned about everywhere, is officially no longer a part of the discography as the core duo discontinued "A Wolf's Age" (2009). This attributes the role of the official debut to "Wildwood" (2012). The album was widely circulated in the underground of several scenes. The sophomore full-length was designed as a soundtrack for an exhibition in Salem, MA tellingly entitled "Edgar Allan Poe: A Life of Hope & Despair" (2014). With "Our Season Draws Near", 1476 returned to a more 'conventional' approach, at least in their terms in 2017. Whatever it is that leads artists to the dark side in New England has also touched 1476. For all those, who like their music outside of genre confines and who always wanted Dante as their personal guide to the infernal depths: "In Exile" offers radiant paths to take into exciting worlds beyond our reality.
