Mare Vitalis

Mare Vitalis (Latin for "Sea of Life") is the second full-length album by Lawrence, Kansas-based emo group the Appleseed Cast, released on Deep Elm Records in 2000. In the time between the release of this album and their debut, The End of the Ring Wars, the band parted company with drummer Louis Ruiz and introduced Josh "Cobra" Baruth, whose very intricate, percussive and expressive drumming is prominent on Mare Vitalis.

Along with this new dimension, the group progressed from the angst-ridden, distortion-laden emo-rock of their debut for a far more atmospheric blend of distinctive, repeated guitar arpeggios and found sounds, while each song displayed a mastery of crescendo and a uniformity of atmosphere. Still very much a song-based work, however, it is essentially a concept album on the life and movements of the sea, as the titles of tracks "Fishing The Sky" and "Poseidon" suggest. The album ends with a lengthy secret track of droning feedback and swirling sounds which foreshadows the experimental post-rock of the Low Level Owl albums released the following year.

Mare Vitalis remains a huge fan favourite and gave critics an indication that there was much more to the band than blatant Mineral and Sunny Day Real Estate homages.