Mustard Gas And Roses is a solo-project by Mike Gallagher, the guitarplayer of the well-known post-metal band ISIS (nog the singer though). The name is taken from a line in the book Slaughterhouse Five, about a 'forgotten' bombing of the german town of Dresden at the end of Worldwar two. Mike already released three albums on a label so far, and a couple more on his own.

Mustard Gas And Roses (short:  MGR) is best described as ISIS meets Godspeed You Black Emperor. Good, 'cause these are two bands which will easily have a place in my top ten list. From listening to the sound of his guitar, it's easy to tell Mike is a member of ISIS. But the familiarity isn't there just because of the specific sound, because there's also a very beautiful tension in each song. They all take between six and eight minutes to roll along, and have a very nice structure. All the songs are instrumental, and I'm not familiar with his previous work (yet), but he describes this album as being a little heavier and to the point. They're more songs than long ambient songs.

And there's the comparison with GYBE, those long, ambient, songs. Because Mike knows, like this band, to give his songs a really nice and spun out tension arc. With remarkable few instruments, really it's a combination of bass and guitars. I can image samples being in there, but it's not something I miss.

With MGR Mike made, despite the comparison with the other bands, a beautiful and exciting album, and actually, that's the core of this whole review.

MGR on last.fm