Like previous albums by post-metal trio
SUMAC
,
May You Be Held
is a set of hulking long-form pieces which balance carefully considered sections with free-form improvisation. The album consists of recordings made during several sessions at multiple studios, including some which produced 2018's
Love in Shadow
, with some ambitious compositions evolving over the course of several years, while others are born from spontaneous creation. As with any of the band's releases, this one requires extreme patience, as it can go from lengthy passages of near-stillness to unrelenting torrents of sound. Opening track "A Prayer for Your Path" is five minutes of faintly glimmering light produced by guitar feedback and bowed vibraphone, with
Aaron Turner
's gruff howling distantly audible. "May You Be Held" is a 20-minute epic filled with thundering riffs and labyrinthine rhythms, constantly twisting and becoming more elaborate, with a drawn-out breakdown building up to one of the album's most bracing moments. The lyrics are a poetic mixture of brutality and compassion, asking listeners if they care enough about humanity to help those who remain after the collapse of society, concluding with a prayer for light, kindness, and joy. The rest of the album is far bleaker. "The Iron Chair" is eight minutes of harsh, improvised desolation which breaks up its moments of unhinged combustion with tense, uneasy space. "Consumed" is the album's other mammoth track, gradually building up to a more consistent, forceful rhythm before being pushed to the brink for an explosive finale. "Laughter and Silence" contains none of the former and much of the latter, particularly during its final minutes, and serves as a period of reflection and airing out following nearly an hour of volatile fury which ponders the destruction of civilization. ~ Paul Simpson