Album Review: Blanket – Ceremonia (Church Road Records)

Blanket, the artistic band who seamlessly blend elements of post-rock, shoegaze, and alternative rock, will release their highly anticipated album ‘Ceremonia’ on March 22nd, 2024, via Church Road Records.

Finally! As much as I’ve been loving the build to this release, quality single after single, it’s really satisfying to finally hear the full thing. To see Blanket’s artistic endeavours in its fullest form, to hear how the singles fit within the overall album picture, and to get to spend even more time in the company of a band that really offers something unique.

I love this, not just because the medley of genres all fit my taste, but because Blanket have made great efforts to not be one thing or the other. Something that is much harder than you think, but screams to the depth of creativity they have.

Creativity that is front and centre with the lovable opener of Nuclear Boy Scout. A perfect showcase of the marrying of genres that exist in this album. Both dreamy and moody in style, but with a robust sounding instrumental section, the switch into more shoegaze locales is inspired stuff. It’s a bar setting track, but it’s a bar that Blanket continue to elevate as the album goes on.

First with the title track, a blast of post-punk twisted by alternative ideas. A more intense Blanket effort, the choppy rhythms, erratic touches of melody, and a serious amount of drama in the vocals makes it unforgettable. Then, with the multifaceted Porcelain, a deeply moving song that has layers of gaze and post, but is much more memorable for its melodies.

You can learn a lot about Blanket with these first three tracks, but you can’t learn everything. That’s because variety is an important aspect of their sound, and Cermonia has so much more to offer.

How about the blend of dreamy melody and punchy post rockiness of Kaleidoscope? A track with some trippy elements and with a chaotic latter portion. Or Sea of Bliss (Reprise)? A piece of music that can be summed up as beautiful. Simplicity in its finest form. Whereas Loom is one of their more elaborately shoegazed focused tracks, with the drums particularly dominating impressively, but it getting downright heavy in parts. That vocal scream in the latter part of the track is fantastic. Just try to tell me that you’re not impressed with this album; I refuse to believe it.

Especially when there are hearty efforts like The Lucky Ones and emotionally affecting efforts like A Sea of Bliss. Personally, because of my love of melodic rock and shoegaze, the latter is one of my favourite tracks on this album, but its importance also comes from how the structure of the album has led to this point.

Bloody Blanket have me wrapped around their finger and it would take something monumentally poor to not have me calling this the album of the year. Of course, there is no possibility of that happening when they continue to betray conventional labels by delivering something so unique in Euphoria. An apt title as the combination of dirty grunge, powerful shoegaze, alternative rock, and more, creates a euphoric feeling.

Lastly though, it’s Final Call, and it finds Blanket at their most ‘dramatic’ sounding. Putting massive emphasis on melody, oozing in emotional atmosphere, and showing how, even at their moodiest, they leave an impression.

Blanket – Cermonia Track Listing:

1. Nuclear Boy Scout
2. Ceremonia
3. Porcelain
4. Kaleidoscope
5. Sea Of Bliss (Reprise)
6. Loom
7. The Lucky Ones
8. A Sea of Bliss
9. Euphoria
10. Final Call

Links

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