Stalled - Pave Desire
The time in the run-up to the release was short: lead single on March 31st as well as the album's announcement for release on April 17th. A total of 17 - 18 including announcement day - days was given for the air to clear and make way for album number two: Pave Desire. It's Engineered and Mixed by Stalled drummer Nate Whitcome and Mastered by Stuck frontman Greg Obis.
There's no time to waste, we're straight into it with "An Exaltation"; the charge is on, and Stalled are in. The track takes an up-and-down, up-and-down approach to the lead guitar, at least in its delivery of rhythm, to my ears. The drums with their dustbin lid, bent-into-action-and-shape aesthetic harbour a chaotic feeling. Exalting the worst of you to the surface; bringing it up for air.
'Exaltation of your sick satisfaction'.
Lead single "Cadence of Command" boasts a low heave of bass as the guitars emanate a caustic spirit. Leaves and toes curl up at the sounds brought about through the dissonance at hand. The ending of the lead single is the first we hear of the Religious scripture-like readings across the album. It takes us into the oldy-worldy reverie of "Virtue Hyperbolic" which meet shards of guitar that squeal, drag, tear the track open and the song into existence. The chug-chug-chug-chug-chug of the opening bassline sets a stern template for the drums to live more of a free, yet still structurally intact, way of being.
Sediments of Unwound lay beneath, inside and all around Stalled's music. It's certainly of Post-Hardcore/Noise Rock lineage.
As already stated, snippets of Religious scripture sit as openings/closings, intros/outros, to a few tracks. It adds an air of overarching watchmen to the project. The eyes inside your mind see all that you do, and have done. They know.
'Man on his knees
As he belongs
Man on his knees
As is ordained
By law'
A change of pace is brought about for Pave Desire's halfway mark: "Fear of Flight".
The latter stages of the track make way for maybe the most well-spirited moment on the album, and strings! The meeting of searing guitars and windswept strings is a thing of beauty. It's gorgeous. Tasteful embellishments. Mid-spiral wonderments.
At just over 9-minutes in length "Testament" is the longest track on Pave Desire, and alongside their 2023 single "Glacial Patience", Stalled's longest track to date. It opens on an ominous, angular tone which breaks the respite that "Fear of Flight" offered up. We're firmly back in the sunken state once more: lead legs and minds of a molasses bent. Oozing basslines pull yr brain to-and-fro, in and out of consciousness.
The refrains of "Give me time" build-and-build mid-track to eventually spill over. A sense of peace is felt as the track's closing moments sweetly chime into the distance.
Pave Desire is a lot more sombre - energy-wise - in its second half. As if the weight of the world has been lumbered upon you. The burden has been lifted and re-loaded, this time far heavier.
Penultimate track "Serpent Speaks" slowly makes its way out of "Testament"'s closing air and comes into view. It remains in a pensive state for its near-eight-minute duration.
Pave Desire ends on a more hopeful tone sonically with "(titletrack)". Although I'm not sure if it necessarily fits in with the rest of the album, it is nice to be uplifted and to be seen out on a nice note. Some things don't fit as they serve another purpose.
