We Lost the Sea - _Crimea_
(Independent, 2010)
by: Aly Hassab El Naby (7.5 out of 10)
Stare with me at these mountains, will you? Observe how static and grand they are. Maybe it's the sleep deprivation or the extra blood sugar, or a combination of both, but I just can't look past the gloominess in We Lost the Sea's cover for their 2010 album _Crimea_. The album takes its name from a Ukrainian peninsula that was the scene of a bloody war in the mid 19th century between the former Russian Empire and a European alliance. The area was grossly devastated and its population plummeted as a result of the military struggle. It's a region that has seen a lot of suffering, and these lads from Sydney were successful in rendering this suffering through _Crimea_.

Track one "The Vessel" is the perfect introduction to this journey back in history. It's a journey in a maritime vessel that leads to the Crimean Mountains you see on the album cover. "Hail! The Star of the Sea" fires the long range barrage that brings forth the mass devastation of the land. The fury of the mountains is evoked and they fire back as "Balaklava Cold" rolls in with a faster pace and a set of more frequently twitching nerves. "Siege of Sevastopol" follows Leo Tolstoy's pattern of describing the inane siege of the city over three stages as the song builds up in intensity with each stage to further insinuate the horrors of war.

The fury of the mountains has reached its limit after the siege and they have had enough. Their response is now final. They force everyone to "March to Scutari" and end the suffering of this once safe haven. Scutari is where a British heroin by the name of Florence Nightingale and her colleagues made it their sole purpose to attend to the soldiers wounded in the Crimean war. On the other side of the black sea, the ever present mountains attend to the wounded lands of the Crimean peninsula as they take their time to heal from the greed of war. The lads muster up a splendid aural depiction of this healing as the song reaches an uplifting mood in its second half, signifying a sun rising on more peaceful days. And being the simple and breathtaking scene it is; the album cover just says it all.

Contact: http://www.myspace.com/welostthesea

(article published 3/10/2010)


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