Weighing Souls with Sand
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox album
| name = Weighing Souls with Sand
| type = Studio album
| artist = the Angelic Process
| cover = The Angelic Process - Weighing Souls with Sand.jpg
| alt = A silhouette of a woman in a dress stands at a rocky coast during a sunset, looking at the sky with her arms out; a large wing is superimposed on the image.
| released = {{start date|2007|05|15}}
| recorded = February–October 2006
| venue =
| genre = {{ubl|Drone metal|ambient|shoegaze}}
| length = 57:34
| label = Profound Lore Records
| producer =
| prev_title = Coma Waering
| prev_year = 2002
| next_title =
| next_year =
}}
Weighing Souls with Sand is the third studio album by the Angelic Process.
Background
The Angelic Process is a music project started by Kris Angylus in Athens, Georgia in 1999,{{cite web |url=http://www.theangelicprocess.com/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071229080411/http://www.theangelicprocess.com/ |last=Angylus |first=Kris |title=The Angelic Process Formed in 1999 |website=The Angelic Process |archive-date=December 29, 2007 |access-date=February 3, 2025}}{{cite web |url=https://daily.bandcamp.com/lists/doomgaze-list |last=Camp |first=Zoe |title=Blissful Noise, Bad Vibes: A Doomgaze Primer |website=Bandcamp Daily |date=August 1, 2024 |access-date=January 29, 2025}} specializing in shoegaze and doom metal music.{{cite web |url=https://pitchfork.com/features/show-no-mercy/6610-show-no-mercy/ |last=Stosuy |first=Brandon |title=Show No Mercy |website=Pitchfork |date=May 16, 2007 |access-date=February 3, 2025}} Angylus's wife, Monica Dragynfly, joined him in 2005.{{cite magazine |url=http://theangelicprocess.com/reviews/versus.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080218104719if_/http://theangelicprocess.com/reviews/versus.html |title=The Angelic Process: Maximum Volume Yields maximum results |magazine=Versus Magazine |date=October 2006 |archive-date=February 18, 2008 |access-date=February 3, 2025}} According to Angylus, two of his albums, Coma Waering (2002) and Weighing Souls with Sand, were directly influenced by his experiences; his first girlfriend died in a car accident in 2000, as reflected in Coma Waering, and Weighing Souls with Sand reflects Angylus's grief and suicidal ideation following his girlfriend's death.{{cite interview |url=https://archive.org/details/bigshinyprisonhi0000bart/page/218/mode/2up |last=Angylus |first=Kris |title=The Angelic Process over Pepper Stake (Take II) |work=The Big Shiny Prison |interviewer=Ryan Bartek |publisher=Anomie Press |date=2016 |pages=218–219 |isbn=9780692626153}} Weighing Souls with Sand was recorded in Metanoia Studios from February–October 2006 and mastered by Black Ark Mastering, before being released on CD by Profound Lore Records on May 15, 2007.{{cite web |url=http://www.profoundlorerecords.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=130&Itemid=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080621102636/http://www.profoundlorerecords.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=130&Itemid=2 |title=The Angelic Process - Set May 15 Release Date |website=Profound Lore Records |archive-date=June 21, 2008 |access-date=January 30, 2025}} Roadburn Records released the album on vinyl on September 24, 2007, with a print run of 500 copies.{{cite web |url=http://www.roadburn.com/frames.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011031417/http://www.roadburn.com/frames.html |title=Roadburn Records's Main Page |website=Roadburn Records |archive-date=October 11, 2007 |access-date=February 3, 2025}}
Composition
Weighing Souls with Sand is the sequel to the Angelic Process's prior album Coma Waering, in which a man dies while in a coma. Weighing Souls with Sand centers around the man's wife, grieving over her husband's death before committing suicide. It has been described as drone metal,{{cite web |url=https://www.popmatters.com/in-through-the-outre-door-2496192561.html |last=Begrand |first=Adrien |title=In Through the Outré Door |website=PopMatters |date=December 16, 2007 |access-date=January 25, 2024}} ambient, and shoegaze,{{cite web |url=https://consequence.net/2018/07/10-other-metal-albums-deafheaven-fans-should-check-out/ |last=Klieban |first=TJ |title=10 Other Metal Albums Deafheaven Fans Should Check Out |website=Consequence of Sound |date=July 17, 2018 |access-date=January 29, 2025}} heavily influenced by My Bloody Valentine. PopMatters notes that the album takes elements from multiple different bands such as Boris, Swans, Godflesh, Isis, and My Bloody Valentine.
Reception
{{Music ratings
|rev1=Blabbermouth.net
|rev1score=8/10{{cite web |url=https://blabbermouth.net/reviews/weighing-souls-with-sand |title=The Angelic Process: Weighing Souls with Sand |website=Blabbermouth.net |date=June 30, 2007 |access-date=January 25, 2024}}
|rev2=PopMatters
|rev2score=8/10{{cite web |url=https://www.popmatters.com/the-angelic-process-weighing-souls-with-sand-2496231491.html |last=Begrand |first=Adrien |title=The Angelic Process: Weighing Souls with Sand |website=PopMatters |date=July 10, 2007 |access-date=January 29, 2025}}
|rev3=Sputnikmusic
|rev3score=4.0/5{{cite web |url=https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/14534/The-Angelic-Process-Weighing-Souls-With-Sand/ |author=Lewis |title=Weighing Souls with Sand |website=Sputnikmusic |date=December 6, 2007 |access-date=January 29, 2025}}
}}
Weighing Souls with Sand received positive reviews. Blabbermouth.net felt that the different aspects of the album, such as the distorted melodies and vocals, combined into a "sonic excursion into raw human emotion like few others out there today."
Track listing
{{Track listing
|headline = CD release{{cite AV media notes |url=https://www.discogs.com/master/550-The-Angelic-Process-Weighing-Souls-With-Sand/image/SW1hZ2U6NTUzNTg1MA== |author=The Angelic Process |author-link=The Angelic Process |title=Weighing Souls with Sand |type=CD artwork |publisher=Profound Lore Records |id=PFL-022}}
|all_writing = the Angelic Process
|title1=The Promise of Snakes
|length1=9:32
|title2=Million Year Summer
|length2=3:52
|title3=The Resonance of Goodbye
|length3=5:14
|title4=We All Die Laughing
|length4=6:05
|title5=Dying in A-minor
|length5=8:19
|title6=Weighing Souls with Sand
|length6=5:19
|title7=Mouvement - World Deafening Eclipse
|length7=1:59
|title8=Burning in the Undertow of God
|length8=6:46
|title9=The Smoke of Her Burning
|length9=4:16
|note10=hidden track; titled "How to Build a Time Machine" on vinyl release
|length10=5:44
}}
{{Track listing
|title10=How to Build a Time Machine
|note10=bonus track
|length10=5:44
|title11=Sleepwritten
|length11=10:53
|note11=bonus track
}}