(written by Islander)

“You forget what you want to remember, and you remember what you want to forget. That is how memory works. Pain and suffering etch themselves onto your soul, while joy seems to be a fleeting whisper you can barely hold onto. It is this paradox of memory that haunts us all, leaving us to wonder what we are, what we were, and what we might become.”
— The Road by Cormac McCarthy

“I stand beneath the open sky, at the setting of the sun. The still waters stretch before me to the distant horizon and the clouds drift slowly across the vast canvas of the sky – a brilliant blending of deepest blues, rich purples, vivid red and warm orange. Yet for all the open vista, the space and freedom, I am trapped; suffocating in a labyrinth of black desperation. The cold walls of insurmountable sorrows and confusion contain me and I am imprisoned by past scars that have become infected, poisoned by the cruel, slow venoms of grief, loss and guilt. I built this maze, but I have long since forgotten the way to freedom…”
— Marche Funèbre

I probably could have left those two quotations and moved right along, without further embellishment, to the premiere stream of Marche Funèbre‘s new album After the Storm (set for release by Ardua Music on September 27th) that we’re hosting today. I had the second one already. Purely by coincidence, I saw the first one shared on social media just as I was finalizing this premiere article. It’s from a devastating and unforgettable work by the late Mr. McCarthy, and seemed entirely suitable to the experience of the album, which is itself often devastating — and I suspect will be very hard to forget as time passes.

On the other hand, those quotations could also be a bit misleading, because it turns out that After the Storm is as vibrant and as heart-pounding as it is heart-aching. Continue reading »