Sculptured - Apollo Ends (2000)

After a high school thrash metal band by the name of Necropolis came to its logical ending in '94, Don Anderson formed Sculptured in Seattle, Washington, USA in 1996. In that same year a limited (100 copies) demo tape titled, 'Fulfillment In Tragedy' was released and two years later the debut, 'The Spear of the Lily Is Aureoled' through Mad Lion Records, but was eventually re-released by The End Records due in part to Mad Lion being a rip-off label. By 2000 when, 'Apollo Ends' was released Don had already established himself as the lead guitarist in Agalloch through their brilliant debut, 'Pale Folklore,' and for this album he also brought his Agalloch comrades to fill in the vacant bass guitar and drum duties.

Although I've been listening to this record since its initial release I've also always found the music of Sculptured to be rather hard to describe since it seems several influences present themselves on this recording. In short though if you could imagine a more progressive version of Iron Maiden mixed with jazz influences and some growled vocals you might be close to understanding what Sculptured sounds like. Now, I have no idea whether or not that's going to sound outstanding to you, yet the music of Sculptured truly is something of total brilliance and innovation. This is certainly one of those bands that need to be heard since words could never fully describe them.

Even though all the music was wrote by Don Anderson, Sculptured consists of six talented musicians that bring all of their influences together to form one unique metal experience. We have Don handling the harsh vocals and guitars, Jason Walton on bass, John Haughm on Drums, Brian Yager singing cleanly and Clint Idsinga & Burke Harris performing the brass portion of the music via a trombone and trumpet.

The funny thing about, 'Apollo Ends' is that technically I should hate it, because that's just it, I tend to really hate overly technical mumbo jumbo progressive whatever the fuck have you music, yet somehow this album has always impressed me. Assuming you are into said mumbo jumbo then you'll probably find that almost every track here is tremendous and will completely grasp your attention.

Don plays some extraordinarily catchy and technical guitar riffs that will remain in your head all day and will have you coming back for more and more. I've always thought it to be interesting because Don has such a unique way of playing that once you hear it you just know its him. Seriously if you listen to Sculptured and then go to any Agalloch record you'll total notice what I'm talking about and for that I truly admire his talents.

Clint and Burke's trombone and trumpet playing is also very captivating and will appeal to you even if you’re no big fan of jazzy music. Somehow all of the little brass riffs in this thing are insanely awesome to me and I remember when I originally heard this record I instantly searched for any and all metal bands that use brass instruments, which eventually lead me Hungry's Sear Bliss. Jason Walton's bass work also sounds quite good in this recording although it's a bit buried in the next, much like John's drum work too, which sucks. Finally Brian does an outstanding job with the clean vocals and Don's growly voice is far from being extreme as you can understand everything he says, but that's fine because it works well with this type of music.

I can honestly say I really love every song on this album, but damn, 'Between Goldberg' defines excellence, especially the instrumental part to this song. I guess a lot of people also either love or hate, 'Apollo Destroys, Apollo Creates' since it opens with four minutes of ambient guitar feedback, but eventually it progress' into a proggy Godspeed You Black Emperor-ish ending, a mighty fine one at that. I also really dig the opening song, 'Washing My Hands Of It' since it has something of a harder edge to it and just really grabs you right from the start. 'Snow Covers All' is great as well and the title alone reminds me of an old Simpsons episode where Bart melts the family Christmas tree and buries it in the snow while saying, "Snow covers all, pure white snow." Hell, even the short little instrumental called, 'Summary' at the end of the album is fun.

In conclusion, ‘Apollo Ends’ is a creative album that deserves a lot more attention then it ever received. After this album Don resumed his work with Agalloch and I guess nowadays there huge, but eventually Don got back to Sculptued in 2008 and released, 'Embodiment: Collapsing Under the Weight of God,' which really excited me upon hearing the good news, but I thought it was a hopelessly bland record that lacked everything that made this record so good. Oh well.

When you think about the endless list of bands that copy and rip off each other it’s really nice to see a band that has their own original sound that no other band has. If you have any interest in the musical styles mentioned above or these guys other bands then Sculptured’s, ‘Apollo Ends’ is an album you should not be without.