Chroniques et points de vue:

From Amazon.co.uk:
There is much to explore in Silver Mt Zion's Born lnto Trouble As The Sparks Fly Upwards. The first movement ('Sisters! Brothers! Small Boats of Fire are Falling from the Sky!') is a lush, richly scored orchestral piece, with found sound loops and complex instrumentation all contributing to a truly uplifting, climatic dirge. The second movement is much slower, with more traditional rock elements--feedback, silence and discordant guitars--creeping in among the neo-classical instruments. lt's the album's centrepiece track 'Take These Hands and Throw Them in the River' which really astonishes, however-imperilled ricocheting vocals, violins wailing like The Dirty Three, suffocating atmosphere like Mogwai, lyrical paranoia, a pulsating beat, all building up to a tumultuous climax. After the storm comes the lull, with birds twittering and cooing, but the pace soon builds up again culminating in another climax of distortion and noise, a pop melody and a final arpeggio guitar. The message at the end is 'Musicians are cowards'. --Everett True









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Note: - Not only expanding the band into a orchestra...
...but also expanding the sound. back in 2000, former Godspeed you! Black emperor members formed a side-project band called "A silver mount zion"... or "the silver mt. zion memorial orchestra and the tral-la-la band"... or "the silver mt. zion reveries". phew! a year after their incredible debut "He has left us but shafts of light sometimes grace the corner of our rooms", they release their next release, "Born into trouble as sparks fly upward". increasing the number of bands, and more long running song most reaching ten minutes.

the album gives a great artwork in the paper CD case, and also some disturbing notes. the album starts out with "Sisters! brothers! small boats of fire are falling from the sky!!" which is easily the best on the whole album. giving you such a unique sound you don't know how the hell they did it (just like GY!BE's "motherf@#ker=redeemer part one" on Yanqui UXO). and some disturbing song (built then burnt! hurrah! hurrah!) with a young girl talking gibberish. Yes, the terrible singing is back from the one-track vocaled on "movie (never made)" on their debut. theres more vocals on these album... this is the bad part. but the album has beautiful names for the songs such as "could've moved mountains" and "tho you are gone... i still w/ you". and then the album ends long and sweet with "the triumph of our tired eyes".

the problem is, the album... wait, the WHOLE band is all stripped-down from Godspeed You Black Emperor. yes, i do highly recommend anything from A Silver Mount Zion, but please to not expect the epic and beauty of what GY!BE has.

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Note: - Dishonesty is luxury
What's the point of this album? I started with a rhetorical question, and the music here sounds just like that; rhetorical and sophomoric. Silver Mt. Zion seems to be afraid to embrace the dark mood they create, and gives us instead fake promisses of hope. Try Tony Conrad & Faust cause they understand the nothingness and have the moxy to expose us to it. GYBE is much better, too.

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Note: - * Alienation on the half-shell ...
A casual perusal of the liner notes reveals that the lads are pretty hacked off.

As in, like, primal alienation.

Justifiably so?

No. After all, what're these boyz after? Easy to deconstruct; not so easy to reconstruct.

But, I'm thinking, So what?

We're in Postmodern Times, right? Anyone who can sustain a cogent narrative has the right to do so.

Musically, they're plowing new territory: legato, strings-based, neo-romanticism, pretty gorgeously rendered, despite its declamatorily in-your-face vibe.

Can all this ravishment be parlayed into some kind of politically coherent statement?

Probably not.

But isn't that beside the point?

Isn't the musical disclosure enough?

No.

But, perhaps, it's all we've got.

Perhaps A Silver Mt. Zion is a musical amalgam out of which will arise, will surface, a new aesthetic, a new politics, a new morality.

But don't count on it.

Nevertheless, alienation on the half-shell has never been soooo attractive.

I'm a fan, if not one won over by their nihilistic cheer.

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Note: - A Good Start, But Look to the Master
It always amazes me to read other's reviews and refrences when it come's to the Post Rock genre. This record hints at the abyss and even begins to touch my soul with its soaring beauty, but its nothing compared to the mind blowing depths and heights the M. Gira was producing with the Swans as far back as the early 80's. His later work tops anything I've yet heard! He invented what we call "Post Rock" today, and the hords of young God Speed worshipers would be well served to educate themselves by listening to the seminal Swans works of "Children of God",
"White Light from the Mouth of Infinity/Love of Life", "The Great Annihilator" and "Sountracks for the Blind". All feature vocals, which can be a turn-off for the young Post Rock follower, but the instrumental sections far exceed anything present in the God Speed/ Mogwai/ Zion/Explosions etc. era.
Look to the past for the future and enjoy the enlightment!

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Note: - * smote. ...
I have given many rave reviews on amazon, while some deserved it, none hold a candle to this record. This record is truly a masterpiece. the harmonies are ridiculously mind blowing. After i compared this cd to other innovative bands that have recently gained a following, like sigur ros, it seems no one is even on the same level as these guys.

This cd is so expressive and emotional. The juxtapostion is like nothing I've heard before. If they didn't have such strong convictions, the greatest symphonies in the world would be opening for them. The classical music world would recognize this album as the next step in music innovation.

I would have been upset if this would have been another GYBE cd, but its not, its totally original. While I love GYBE, it would have just made me mad if they started another band just like it. That is totally not the case here.

The only flaw that I can even consider is on "take these hands and throw them in the river" it seems the songs builds and builds and then goes into to simple of a chorus. I see the song building and building and exploding into something as complex as that of the 2nd to the last track on the introduction to the second part. But that flaw is just simply my opinion, still one of the best records of all time.