A minute into the first song it is evident we are dealing with top-tier musicians. The drumming is nuanced and technically flawless. The razzle-dazzle of this kind of brilliance is impressive, but just wonderous playing in and of itself can not carry an album, even if it is progressive rock. The telling factor for this album will be how memorable the songs are. Much of this brand of progressive metal feels like the emphasis is on the progressive side and less on the metal, as a dialed-in distortion and a few chugs in a dropped tuning do not make you a metal band. Metal is about aggression, if it is dark then even better. This album features a different vocalist for each track. Keturah a Canadian singer, who is very technically sound, with a very precise pitch and delivery, but much like many progressive singers, sounds to me like they are too refined. Like they need to spend less time with their vocal coach and more time experiencing real-life emotional trauma to convince me what they are doing has any soul to it.
The production is flawless and all the sounds captured are pristine, almost to a fault. Pritam of the New Delhi-based band Aarlon for the song "Tyranny". It is well crafted and very melodic, but in a similar vein as a band like Sleep Token, which is marketed as metal, but really sounds like a grandiose pop power ballad.Pritam is a dynamic singer and can bring it from his guts as called for, but much like the first singer I feel metal is just a hat he is wearing, not truly feeling, there is no struggle he is screaming against. Music for outsiders it is the plights life throws against you that make the struggle inspired. I want metal singers who are nihilistic Satanists, drug addicts, mentally ill, or trying to overcome a world they are left on the outside of and looking in.
Aj Channer from Fire From the Gods drops a vocal for "Pattern of Rebirth". He is yet another non-metal singer who sings for a metal band making pop music. He is however effective at what he does, and his performance here is in line with the quality of singing that is consistent with who he is as a performer. This makes for perhaps the album's strongest song. "Watching the Earth Sink" is a melodic instrumental that builds off a gradual dynamic, to something that is almost more djent in timing. The guitar solos it showcases, remind me of Joe Satrinani in the way they are phrased.
Tower of Power's Larry Braggs handled the vocals for the ballad "The Lesser Evil" This highlights the fact they are not really attempting to be a metal band on this song. Harder guitar slowly works its way in as the Saxophone of Sam Gendel, brings things to a funkier place. I prefer the more ambient " Denial's Aria" with Vikke handling vocals and the harp duo Duo Scorpio, performing with them. "Vespers" after this is an intangible cloud of atmosphere. Tesseract singer Daniel Hopkins croons over "Let the Truth Speak". He projects his voice with impressive power when called upon to do so./I also like the more Tool-centric groove of the song. When this song is jammed down into a more introspect dimension.
Baard Kolstad of Leprous plays drums on the last song. He might be the most metal element of the album given his time with Borknager. His drumming is impressive as the song builds, but the throbbing instrumental is a collection of cool sounds being moved rather than telling much of a story. This album is well constructed, performed, and produced, but do not feel a lot from its soul, I will give it a 8.5, as there are a few strong songs, but for my personal tastes feels a little sterile and soft.
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