WANHEDA returns with their second EP Dusty Trails, continuing their arc of creating emotionally charged concept albums for the passionate and the intellectual. Opening Dunk!festival in 2019 and releasing their vibrant and expansive debut LP made them one of Belgium’s finest post-rock acts to watch, but with Dusty Trails WANHEDA cement themselves as one of the most compelling acts in the scene today!
Incorporating a wide palette of instrumentation as well as surprising influences from hard rock and classical guitar music, these cinematic progenies of the burgeoning Belgian rock scene have been blazing their own trail in post-rock since 2016.
Meanwhile, they have also been unafraid to tread in the footsteps of genre greats like MONO and Explosions in the Sky, producing the timeless melodies and transformative listening experiences we all love. The result is a refreshing combination of the familiar and the unexpected which makes WANHEDA a welcome and stimulating source for the soundtrack of your life!
Beneath the Vulture’s Gaze opens up the album like a rock opera overture launching straight into the soundtrack vibes with marching drums, western guitars, and a lone trumpet played by Geert Moesen. Dusty Trails wears its Western concept on its sleeve, quite literally, but in comparison to Desert of Real the storyline is less elaborate. “With this EP we wanted to go back to basics, allowing the listener to create their own interpretation of the songs,” explains guitarist Jan Boucké about the creation of the EP.
On Dusty Trails, the Leuven-based sextet dial back on the instrumentation, while turning up on the intricacy of their craft. There are moments where the members’ past in metalcore outfit Balances shines through in a subtle way, like the winding foot-pedal heavy mid-section of «Beneath the Vulture’sGaze» or the demure breakdown that backs Jan Verduyckt’s guitar solo on «In the Footsteps of the Nameless».
Second track Grit and Glory combines syncopated drum patterns with vintage surf-inspired guitars, while «Gold Fever Dreams» sees the band explore a sonic expansiveness akin to the likes of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Tangled Thoughts of Leaving.
The myriad of styles and ideas is what makes Dusty Trails an amazingly fun record to listen to. Every section has been composed with a lot of deliberation and attention to detail, but WANHEDA also doubles up on the fun with their hard-rock inspired guitar solos and balls-to-the-wall songwriting. They lean right into Tenacious D territory to the point where you might consider – what if Jack Black wrote a wild west-themed instrumental rock record? Dusty Trails might just be the answer to that!
Dusty Trails is one of the most fun and engaging post-rock records you’ll hear this year, but it also reinforces the sextet’s dedication to their art of producing transformative sonic journeys. The seamless transition into an Ennio Morricone theme half-way through the EP is a testament to their aptitude in the department of writing compelling melodies, and it is this pairing of legendary soundtrack with SFX-powered breakdowns and inimitable layers of jazz instrumentation which elevates WANHEDA to become one the most compelling acts in the Belgian rock scene today!
So far the promo talk and review done by the band itself. Well do I like this EP? The answer is not clear. But first of all: I don’t like music without vocals. I tend to describe it as boring as fuck and normally I simply don’t review it at all. Now what I heard was good, had a lot of variety and in fact: it’s really good and just needs lyrics and vocals. I’m sure there are fans for this kind of music, so I decided to publish it like this and at least give them some exposure.
And as you know: normally I would do a track by track review, but like my words in the previous part: for once it’s a 5 lines review (like some other magazine’s do), for once I did the same …
