First Impressions
Yet another incredible obscure find.
I had never heard of this band before. And though I definitely think the prog metal market is too overloaded with the, as I like to call it, pop-djent movement. This was distinctive enough to stand out and grab me.
If you're curious, I refer to pop-djent as the melding of really heavy downtuned elements with very soft and catchy vocals. Think Haken, Leprous, Caligula's Horse, The Contortionist, the list goes on and on. It's a movement that I do find very novel and a fresh new direction for prog to go in. But I do think it can be done a little too much and it can become really unmemorable.
So, what makes this album stand out? What makes it more than a simple pop-djent album. Well, for starters, it's honestly leaning more towards the pop than the djent. There are some heavier songs like Angst, and the title track even has a really strange and cool breakdown with a string that is tuned to the point where I don't even think it's hitting a proper note. It's awesome.
Regardless, most songs here keep an upbeat and energetic vibe. I honestly love this, songs like Wait For Me, Howls, the title track, Pyre. All are so laced with beautiful vocals and super catchy hooks. They keep the energy up with super vibrant and bright guitars, almost sounding like a few mainstream indie bands.
Some of these songs really mastered the art of the hook. The entire front side of the record is loaded with amazing chorus after amazing chorus. They're all so sticky and singable just by the end of the first listen. It's been a curse how much the chorus of the title track and Dark Water have been stuck in my head for weeks.
As for the prog, there is some experimentation here. There are some really cool out-of-left-field passages like the piano interlude in Dark Water, the aforementioned breakdown in Destrier, the intro to Citadel. These combine really modern styles of playing into their sound, and it works really really well.
Another big part of the experimentation here is just how many super soft songs there are here. These are mostly loaded into the back half of the record. Let Fall The Curtain, Bemoan, Death Rattle, and even what would traditionally be the big epic finishing piece of the album, Mono No Aware. This is a 7 minute long song, and where you expect it to be this grand closing, it ends up being really light and subtle.
That is not to say the song does not end the album amazingly. We get a reprise of Destrier, which is a cheat code for me to love a song, and an album in general. Give me a reprisal to finish up a journey and I will love it.
I will say, as much as I appreciated the softer second half, nothing can really live up to those first 5 songs to me. My goodness, the front side of this thing is full of borderline masterpieces for the genre.
Naturally, this did leave me a little underwhelmed as I continued through the album, but the softer songs did grow on me quite a bit, especially Bemoan. Such a beautiful and haunting song. I think it's the only one that truly reaches the full realization of the softer elements of the album.
All in all, I was a little nervous going into this, thinking I would not like it that much. That was quickly dispelled though, and gave way to a truly awesome album with equal parts polish and experimentation. You can tell this is a very genuine artistic statement from the band, and I love that.
Ranking
Dark Water
Destrier
Wait For Me
Pyre
See Hell
Bemoan
Citadel
The Autumn Red
Howls
Let Fall The Curtain
Death Rattle
Let Them See Us
Angst
Rating
7/10