We Left a Note With an Apology

Torment & Glory

Brian Cook has been a part of some pretty legendary bands. He was the bassist for mathcore pioneers Botch and for post-hardcore supergroup These Arms Are Snakes. Lately, he's been busy splitting his time in post-metal groups Russian Circles and SUMAC. This year, however, Cook has come out with his own musical project under the name Torment & Glory; a much softer experience compared to the groups I just mentioned. We Left a Note With an Apology at its core is a folk album with a bit of harmonious drone thrown into the mix. Despite the heavy use of fuzz and distortion in some of the soundscapes, the record feels sort of celestial. The record consists of seven tracks with an overall length of 34 minutes and it is a very admirable first solo effort. While there isn't anything incredibly mind-blowing about the record, I do find it to be generally very soothing with its warm layers of droning guitars and gentle melodies.

Perhaps my only real grievance is that on a few tracks, Cook's vocal performance can be a little shaky, most notably on tracks like Boylston & Pike and The Kick Drum. Although, my favourite thing about the record are these overwhelming layers of fuzz and guitar noise that appear pretty often throughout the record. The best example has to be on the track No Big Crime, which features these three part guitar harmonies that are so saturated in fuzz and distortion that it caught me off guard the first time I heard it. It is definitely the most exhilarating moment on the record. I don't listen to a lot of folk music but I would imagine that more noisier elements like the ones Cook has incorporated make his work pretty unique.