This is the debut album from Estonian modern metallers Pridian.
Venetian Dark is a 44-minute contemporary metal album that ably showcases Pridian’s skillset. The band’s music is an amalgam of metalcore, nu-metal, djent, and progressive metal. Think a mix of acts such as Meshuggah, Tesseract, Mnemic, Spiritbox, Gojira, and Make Them Suffer, as a rough starting point.
The songs are well-crafted and written. They’re enriched with synths and electronics, but don’t neglect actual metallic weight. In fact, Venetian Dark is a good deal less plastic than I was expecting. Of course, make no mistake – this is a very professional and polished product, just not distractingly so. Pridian deliver a modern metal experience, but there’s actually some meat to this meal, rather than pure sugar.
There’s heaviness and belligerence, combined with atmospheric appeal and cinematic flair. It’s dark and engaging music, balancing accessible hooks with a satisfying crunch and energetic aggression. The singer mixes roars, semi-cleans, and cleans effectively, working with the rest of the music to provide a well-rounded collection of songs.
Pridian have produced an enjoyable first album. I look forward to where they go from here.
A fine recommendation for modern metal fans.
Wonderbox Metal 