Genre : Melodic progressive death metal, Progressive metalcore/hardcore
Released : December 4th, 2020
Label : Good Fight Music
FFO : Between the Buried and Me, The Human Abstract, The Contortionist,
The Devil Wears Prada
The first time I listened to this album I couldn't decide whether I liked it or not.
Some elements I thought were really cool and creative and some others kind of took me out of the flow of the music (some of the clean sung sections on some of the first tracks especially). But one thing I picked up on immediately is how much this reminded me of the early works of Between the Buried and Me (up until "Alaska" and even a bit of "Parallax") whether due to the vocal styles (both clean and harsh), the song structures and some of the guitar parts and tones as well.
Turns out "The Angel of History" was co-produced, mixed and mastered by none other than Jamie King, aka. the unofficial sixth member of BTBAM who has produced all of their music, so that explains a lot.
The dual harsh vocals work really well and create some cool dynamics which are furthermore enhanced by the clean, soft passages (some of which reminded me of Intrinsic/Exoplanet-era The Contortionist).
Strangely enough, my enjoyment of the record increases throughout its play time in a steady crescendo, reaching its climax at the closing track, and I'm not even 100% sure why.
Is it because of the song structures, the riffs, breakdowns or vocals? I honestly don't know.
Another thing that caught my attention were the lyrics which seemed to be well written and thought-out, touching on interesting topics from what I could catch.
Sadly I haven't been able to find them anywhere online so I might have to pay more attention to them on my future listens or grab a physical copy.
Anyway, enough rambling.
Although there's a few things that didn't work too well with me on this album, overall I think it has a very interesting soundscape and the songwriting on it is pretty fun and creative, so if you're into proggy, "out there" conceptual albums that are heavy and grinding I would definitely recommend you check this one out!
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