Ne Obliviscaris – Citadel (Album Review)

A couple of months back a good friend of mine introduced me to Ne Obliviscaris, and that’s when I hated said friend because simply no other band came even close to giving me the same “musical high” -or so to speak- that Ne Obliviscaris’ violin infused masterpieces gave me. Obviously I loved Portal Of I, it was what perfection sounds like. Now fast forward to last week when I finally got the band’s new album Citadel in my mailbox and I tore open the package like a fat kid would tear open the wrapper on a chocolate bar. I got my Citadel tshirt, my Citadel album, and my unwavering will to have my mind blown to pieces, put back together, and blown again ready.

I put the disc in my computer and started listening and my god was it good. However something seemed off, still does. I gave it a dozen more listens in my car on my way to and fro work, as well as on my way to client sites which happens way too often, also which gave me an opportunity to listen to the album more. I even forced my parents and sister to listen to the album when they inevitably had me give them a ride somewhere. Even with all the listens, something still doesn’t feel quiet right, I can’t put my finger on it really. Is it the way the tracks are organized within the album? That’s definitely part of it. Pyrrhic coming right after Painters Of Tempest – Part III didn’t give me enough time to recover from the elegance of the Painters Of Tempest trilogy, it just stormed in guns a blazing. That’s not to say Pyrrhic wasn’t good, it’s an absolutely stunning track, along with every single track on the album. For me at least the organization threw me off a little.

However everything I loved from Portal Of I is present in Citadel, and much grandeur at that too. The beautiful and at times haunting violin interludes are there, the insanely good bass chops that positively make me want to grab my bass and miserably fail at replicating the lines are still there, and within the tracks themselves, the blowing of my mind did occur, many times over.

Coming from Portal Of I, I expected something exactly similar, I didn’t want this formula to change, and sure enough Ne Obliviscaris know that, they know that they’re outstandingly good at what they do and they’ll keep doing it because there’s simply too much to explore in that medium. The only drawback to Citadel was the track organization. It just nudged the album’s flow for me a little.

Ne Obliviscaris – Portal of I (Album Opinion)

If I were to pick the end all be all of progressive death metal albums, I would go with Portal of I. If I were to pick the end all be all of death metal – Or metal in general, mind you – albums, I would go with Portal of I. If I were to pic… You get the point.

I’ve been addicted to this album for so long it’s become unhealthy, the way the album is structured is perfect, the way the lyrics flow oh so amazingly with the music is perfect, the way the music is simply some of the most elegant music I’ve listened to in a while is outstanding. While there’s only one addition to the traditional metal formula -if there ever was one- the violin work by Tim Charles compliments the music, and even takes lead at most times, but it never gets in the way, when Tim Charles’ work takes lead it never overshadows anything else, every other instrument compliments the new lead, and similarly whenever bassist -Holy crap is he good- Brendan Brown or guitarist Benjamin Baret or also drummer Dan Presland take lead, every one else follow in and work together to make what I truly consider the most elegant progressive death metal album of probably, well, ever.

Songs to take note of (all of them):

Forget Not

And Plague Flowers The Kleidoscope

Of The Leper Butterflies

Existentium – Decadent Desecration (Album review)

I have only listened to Existentium as Alhazred (their former name), and only to a song called Viral Fear which James Spaeth, their drummer, had me listen to when they first recorded, and I distinctly remember getting so hooked on this song that it eventually went into my everyday playlist. So when he told me that his band were making an album I was stoked, and rightfully so. Before I go any further, I can say up front that save for some very minor issues, this album takes the cake. The whole damned cake.

 

Next to a demo they released back in 2012, Decadent Desecration is Existentium’s first full length album that has just been released this month (March 2014).

Right from the get go, the album deceives you with an acoustic intro track that, at first listen, gave me the impression that this would be a progressive death metal album a la Opeth, or even a doom metal album. Make no mistake though, this album is pure, hard hitting death metal with a LOT of thrash metal influences, and I’m not sure if they intended this or not, but TONS of Hypocrisy influences, mainly in Chris’ voice, and in some of the riffs. Also Obscura influences. The best I can describe Decadent Desecration is that it is what happens when an orgy between Scale The Summit, Obscura, Hypocrisy, and Exodus happens. Lots of beards in there. Lots and lots of beards.

The album keeps up the pace throughout all the ten tracks, with one instrumental in between to keep things varied. Marrying outstanding bass work from Josh with James’ blast beats and everything complimented with Chris’ and David’s melodic work, departing the album at times from the raw brutality it is incorporating to a more melodic death tone, and at times more melodic than death, which manages to keep things interesting.

The mastering and all the audio work really is superb here, save for a few seconds in one of the tracks where the drums could’ve used a little more reverb instead of sounding flat, but again, that was for exactly three seconds in one of the songs that if you are not an audiophile, won’t even notice.

I can’t think of anything wrong with the album, it is a perfect example of how good experimentation can go. In this case I ended up feeding my ears melodies akin to Scale the Summit’s with growls like Hypocrisy’s and riffing between Exodus’ and Obscura’s. It’s the beautiful love child of all these bands with enough substance to stand out on its own.

While Existentium may be new, they definitely have the technicality and sound to make an impact in the death metal scene.

Decadent Desecration is available for digital download here and for physical discs and merch here.

MEHTUL!

Okay, so the whole “Spam Tuesday” was a bust (Maybe spam Saturdays would work better?) I don’t discover that much underground bands on a weekly or even bi-weekly basis, and sometimes I just get downright lazy (sue me).

What I’ll be doing here is, I’ll be posting some music that I personally find enjoyable, be it from underground bands or not, but priority will be for underground metal bands, even more priority will be for local underground metal bands, EVEN MOAR priority will go to my band, because we’re underground, local, and we only have one song out. (Love us? Please?)

First up, I’d like to tell you all that Devin Townsend has recorded and (almost) released a new album for The Devin Townsend Project called Epicloud! I’m personally not sure if it’s Epicloud for Epic cloud or Epic Loud, but it’s not that loud, so it must be the first choice (Fluffy cloud would have been a better name, but, whatever). He also is awesome enough to have it entirely stream-able for freaking free! So, yeah, Listen to it there.

More epic news, Dethklok have a new video out! A very VERY weird video, of the NSFW variations. I’m not going to spoil it, but you’ll get to see a Pharaoh getting a blowjob from Mortal Kombat’s Mileena.

He also says testicular propane, which is, hands down, the awesomest most coolest phrase I have heard in my entire 22 years of earthly existence.

Also, if you have never heard of them, and chances are, you haven’t, Armenian Space Station! These people define the word “Underground”, I knew of them through a friend (An Armenian friend), and no one else I know knew about them before him, which seems a bit eerie to me.

ARMENIAN SPACE STATION, FOLKS!

As per usual, support my band, because we’re good, and support our producer (He has some good shit in the works!).

 

Myrath – Tales of the Sands (Album Review)

Myrath is a Progressive metal band hailing from El Zahraa, Tunisia, who blend beautiful oriental melodies with colossal progressive metal riffs, creating music that is bound to make your ear yearn for more!

Myrath’s Tales of the Sands was preceded by two equally beautiful albums, Hope, and Desert Call, all of which share the same formula of Oriental/Progressive Metal fusion. Adding more to the epicness of the album, it was mixed by Frederik Nordstorm (Dimmu Borgir, In Flames) and mastered by Jens Bogren (Symphony X), and this outstanding staff did a stellar job on this album, the clarity, and quality of Tales of the Sands is nothing short of amazing.

If you’ve followed Myrath’s career in the past, you’d probably know how they also sing in Arabic in their songs, though this wasn’t prominent in Hope, and not as much in Desert Call, Tales of the Sands introduces more songs with Arabic lyrics, most notable of which being “Beyond The Stars”:

كونتي لحلامي جهار بهار
زينتي عمري وأيامي
خليكي معايا ليل ونهار
خليكي معايا ليل ونهار

That is just a sample of what you can expect, lyrics-wise from the album, I personally find the use of Arabic poetry along with their equally fitting English lyrics a mix that adds a lot to the album, making it unique to all the other Progressive Metal acts out there.

The band members are more than capable with their respective instruments, shown throughout the entire album, with not one riff similar to the other, and are all quite technical, especially the bassist with the small bass interludes present in most songs, most of which, all instruments are turned off with the bass blazing alone prepping you mentally for what will happen next, from personal experience, that was one of the very few “Eargasms” I’ve experienced, the solos are amazingly fitting to the music, and the drum work is very nice for the genre, and also with the oriental percussion present in almost all of the songs, you won’t feel like the drums should’ve been faster or anything.

One of the songs I really enjoyed in the album was Tales of the Sands, the way it starts, melodically, moving your body to the music, with the riffing behind the melody making it necessary that you should headbang! Also, Tales of the Sands is the first song in the album featuring Arabic lyrics, that are again, nothing short of spectacular.

The album concludes with Time to Grow, which starts off with the keyboards doing a bit of an electronic solo that progresses on to the rest of the song, with the rest of the instruments working equally perfectly, staying loyal to the original feel of the album, creating a mix that is enticing and captivating. Near the end of the song, during the guitar solo, the bass rips off into another solo while the keyboard is still working its magic until the song ends.

In my personal opinion, Tales of the Sands is one of the best Oriental Progressive Metal albums to grace 2011. Leave your thoughts of the album in the comment section, was there anything that disappointed you in the album? Did you wish they had done something else? or are you as satisfied with the album as I am?