Greensleeves are a Brazilian Progressive Metal band and this is their second album.
This is quality Progressive Metal with a proper Metal edge. The band aren’t afraid of being a bit heavier than the norm and the songs make the most of this, mixing the forthright nature of Metal with the wandering, exploratory Progressive edge of the style.
If you like bands such as Dream Theater, Threshold, Pagan’s Mind and Nevermore then Greensleeves should be your thing too.
The singer has a really, really good voice; coming off somewhere between the singers of Pagan’s Mind and Nevermore his voice rises to the challenge again and again. Frequently the weakest link in bands such as this is the singer and I’m very pleased to say that isn’t the case here.
The songs are very well played, as you would expect for a band in this genre, and there are plenty of leads and solos to satisfy. I should compliment the chunky rhythms also; as mentioned previously they’re heavier for the norm and certainly bring out the Metal aspect of their sound.
Decent melodies and layered harmonies combine with thick guitars and melodic know-how to create exemplars of the style.
There are 12 tracks in total and they’re all composed so that the album as a whole is a very good listen. At over 72 minutes in length it’s a long listen but one that’s very rewarding.
I’ve really enjoyed listening to this and will continue to do so again and again in the future.
Definitely one to check out for your next Progressive Metal fix.
First Dawn are a Melodic Black Metal band from Finland. This is their début album.
First dawn incorporate synths and elements of Progressive Metal into their interesting sound. Melodic Black Metal can sometimes seem a bit one-dimensional but First Dawn manage to inject a decent amount of depth into their compositions.
The songs are nicely heavy and professionally recorded. The music is all balanced appropriately and they manage to keep up the atmospheres of the tracks without the synths becoming overbearing.
The music is well-written with an ear for dynamics and a good melody. It’s surprisingly powerful stuff, with lots of hair-raising moments and parts to get the blood pumping.
Rasped Black Metal vocals are the main mode of delivery and the singer has character to his voice.
These songs are instantly captivating and remain so on repeated listens. First Dawn have a talent for atmosphere-laden writing that also has enough direct appeal to satisfy. Add to this the Progressive solos/leads and the space-age feel of the synths and you have an album that merges Progressive Metal and Black Metal at the cellular level.
A very, very good release from an interesting band who are intent on doing things their own way and doing them well.
Kouzin Bedlam are a Finnish Heavy Metal band and this is their début album.
This is expressive Heavy Metal that’s enhanced with keyboards as well as some Progressive Metal and Power Metal streaks.
Their sound is a very enticing one that mixes elements of bands like Queensrÿche, Iron Maiden, Kamelot and Queen. It’s very listenable and has instant character and appeal.
Longing for the Incomplete is a very strong collection of songs. The band know how to play and everything comes off silky smooth and ultra-polished, but with the important accolade of not losing the band any of their life or colour.
The music is textured, rich and involving. There are lots of hooks and bucketloads of catchiness. The songs have memorable melodies and tunes as well as many interesting ideas and a great deal of variety.
All in all these songs are ridiculously good! In some ways it’s hard to believe that this is a just a début album as the level of songwriting here is stellar.
The singer has a great voice that’s capable of dealing with anything that’s required of it. Pretty much any style is within his range and his performance on this album is staggeringly good.
When this style of Metal is done well it takes me back to when I was getting into music for the first time and everything seemed so exciting and new. Kouzin Bedlam fill me with the same kind of feeling; not so much because of nostalgia, but just because of how damn good this is!
This puts me in mind of Trinity Road by All Seeing Eyes; Kouzin Bedlam don’t particularly sound like All Seeing Eyes, but the comparison is apt as both bands have recently released a pure blinder of an album. Had I listened to this album earlier then it definitely would have featured in my 2014 end of year list.
What a great album by a great band. Essential listening.
White Arms of Athena are from the US and play Technical/Progressive Metal. This is their second album.
The album starts with harmonies upon harmonies. From here, the band launch their brand of Metal and the album as a whole shows that White Arms of Athena are nothing if not interesting and varied.
This is technically-minded, expressive Progressive Metal that has a distinct personality all of its own and a will to deliver the goods. The band clearly know how to play but they also know how to write; these are songs first, and ones that are distinctly above-average at that.
There’s a lot going on here. The songs are complex and engaging with depth, creativity and longevity stamped into them.
If you take the less extreme/chaotic parts of The Dillinger Escape Plan/Between the Buried and Me and add a plethora of Progressive Metal and Post-Metal influences then you might start to have an idea of the treasure trove of delights that this album holds.
Plenty of ideas and interesting enhancements are included in these songs. Ambient/Drone sections, Psychedelia, heavy riffs, technical wizardry, atmospheric build-ups; White Arms of Athena use all of these tools and more to create impressive soundscapes filled with moving music.
The singer has a charismatic voice that’s somewhat stony in flavour and very emotive. The vocals are very assured and confident and do a great job of providing colour and nuance to music that’s already very coloured and nuanced in its own right. The term rich tapestry could have been coined for White Arms of Athena.
Shockingly good and dangerously individual, this is an album to threaten the average band’s mediocrity. White Arms of Athena have raised the bar with this album. You’d better pick this up immediately.
Vihaan are from the US and this is their début album. They play Progressive Metal.
Vihaan combine Progressive Rock, Metal and Jazzy technicality into 48 minutes of listening pleasure.
This is a band who aren’t afraid to embrace the Metal side of their sound, so as well as their expressive Progressive music and the exploratory Rock we also get heaviness and deep vocals.
As you would expect of a band like this, the music is first rate. Everything is clear and played well; even the bass is audible and makes a valuable contribution to the songs.
Vihaan have struck the perfect balance between complex technicality and accessibility. Think Opeth meets Between the Buried and Me.
These tracks are artfully composed and have enough variety and interest to engage for the full listening time. The fact that they have a firm Metal base means they never go wandering too far into experimental territories and the integrity of the song is always kept intact.
Added effects and sounds complement the base collection of instruments well. This gives each song an added flavour. Inflection has a part near the end, for example, that sounds really 70’s Prog sci-fi. It’s enough to make my hairs stand on end!
This is a very accomplished and enjoyable album. It’s full of rich textures and has a refined palette. A highly recommended listen.
Sarpedon have just released their début album Anomic Nation, an album that takes Progressive Metal and drapes it in Extreme Metal influences with dramatic, powerful vocals. Definitely a band to watch out for. I wanted to find out a bit more about this impressive band…
Give us a bit of background to Sarpedon
Carl, Eirik, and myself started the band a few years back, to be honest I don’t remember exactly but I think it was in 2006. The line-up was a bit of a mess at times but we released two demos and were gigging quite frequently around Norway, and began eventually recording what would later be “Anomic Nation” around 2009-2010. However, due to several fuckups with former members, different priorities, other bands, day jobs etc., things stalled “a bit” (several years, to be honest) – but in 2013 we together with Børge Finstad finally managed to get the mixing done, and after the mastering from Peter in de Betou was finished it didn’t take too long before the deal with Inverse was in place.
What are your influences?
For songwriting – Savatage, Nevermore, Queen, Rainbow, Blind Guardian, Symphony X, Emperor. For guitar playing – Yngwie J. Malmsteen, Brian May, Nuno Bettencourt, Ritchie Blackmore, Criss Oliva, Eric Johnson, Andy Timmons, Jeff Loomis, Dimebag Darrell, André Olbrich (etc etc etc).
What are you listening to at the moment that you would like to recommend?
The new Blind Guardian album (and very much so) – other than that I’ve had a Swedish kick lately with Lefay and Tad Morose, Extreme due to Nuno being in Oslo for the Nobel Prize concert. It’s a shame he only did “More than Words” on that occasion, but I don’t think Malala would appreciate “He Man Woman Hater” or “Mutha (I don’t wanna go to school today).
What did you want to achieve with Anomic Nation?
Lifetime sponsorship for Burgundy red wine and maple syrup pancakes! No seriously, it’s actually a slight sense of relief to finally have the album out, due to former frustrations and the way too long time it took. The reception has been very good, and hopefully we’ll be able to continue in a more constructive manner this time around, have a bit of fun, do some gigs, and eventually make a new album.
Are you happy with how it turned out?
YES! 🙂 Haha, no but we are. The songs had been with us for so long so we had almost lost the ability to hear if the music was actually any good at all – but the response has been so good that it gave us back the belief in what we are doing. Even when we got the record deal and decided to release the album the plan was basically to release it, do a gig or two and then call it a day. But now we will make (at least) one more album, do as many gigs as possible and really have some fun with it all.
What can you tell us about the lyrics?
There are different subjects, but also some recurring themes. A few songs are about specific incidents – “Dead Birds”, for example, is about a horrific series of suicides in a certain area of Wales a few years ago. The number “17”, which is sung several times, is the number of young people that had committed suicide in Bridgend in Wales at the time of recording, the number has increased since. “Lusk Letter” deals with the Jack the Ripper mystery, which has always fascinated me – George Lusk was the man who received the infamous “From Hell” letter in October 1888. One recurring theme is the little man against the big society – “Anomic Nation”, “The Claustrophober”, “My Mysteries…” 1 and 2.
Give us a bit of information on the songwriting process.
I do most of the music – although the only songs I’ve written entirely on my own and then presented to the band as complete pieces of music are “A Seed of Evil” and “My Mysteries Unwind Pt. 2”.The rest of the band are also heavily involved in the arrangements and also contribute both riffs and melodies for several of the songs, and of course Eirik comes up with most of the vocal stuff himself.
In my review I comment on the Black Metal influence on your sound. Can you expand on this?
There is definitely a black metal influence – Emperor is one of my favourite bands, and Carl and Andreas have basically only played in black and death metal bands until Sarpedon came about (and still do – Endezzma, Unspoken, and others). In a way Sarpedon is about incorporating all the different influences we have and musical styles we enjoy into one band, and it’s definitely refreshing for me as a guitar player and songwriter to be able to use riffs and harmonies which maybe belong more in other genres than in “traditional” prog/power metal.
How do you see your position in the wider Metal musical framework/genre?
It was Eirik who came up with the slogan “Declaring war on progressive metal as we know it”. And without trying to be overly arrogant or anything we try to create our own little twist on progressive metal – which is a genre which, inevitably, is not very progressive any more. We’re not the most technical band out there, but we try to put heavy riffs and drumming with both thrash and black metal influences, into a context with strong melodies which might hint at Broadway/West End influences, atmospheric synths and huge choirs.
How do you see your songs/direction developing in the future?
To quote one big hero of mine – “MORE IS MORE” 🙂 We will begin working on our next album next year, and I think we will use “Anomic Nation” as a starting point and then try to do a bit more of everything. The choirs will be (even) bigger, the riffs will be heavier, the melodies will be catchier, we will incorporate more dynamics –
What’s next for Sarpedon?
We have our release party in Oslo on February 14, celebrating Metal Express Radio’s 30th anniversary – then we’ll see what more gigs show up before we begin writing songs for the next album. It’s been a blast to finally hold a proper Sarpedon CD in our hands, and to hear that people actually enjoy what we have come up with. We’re really enjoying playing together, and hopefully there’s more fun to come in the upcoming months and years. And thanks to you Nigel for taking the time to do this interview and for the review you gave us – we sincerely appreciate it! 🙂
Astrakhan are from Canada and play Progressive Metal. This is their latest EP.
This is powerful music with plenty of dynamics and personality.
Think Progressive Metal with a modern edge; kind of in the vein of what Mastodon do but without really sounding like them too much. Couple this with elements of bands as diverse as Alice in Chains, High on Fire and Metallica…
Hard Rock mixes with a Sludge feel and strong clean vocals dominate everything. Stoner simplicity and technical complexity merge together. They are at once cohesive and divisive; multiple influences congeal into a coherent whole and result in four very impressive songs.
The sheer force of charisma generated by the singer is draw-dropping. To further muddy the waters of genre-definition, he sometimes sounds like he could easily front an Avant-Garde band like Arcturus or Manes with ease.
The distortion feels alive and the riffs have a vitality to them. Each of the songs flexes its musical muscles and exudes feelings that are both epic and emotive.
Their music is textured and rich with riffs that propel the songs onward with real passion and vigour.
Top quality. If they can translate their obvious talent into a full length album they’ll be on to a real winner.
Devil Sold His Soul are from the UK and this is their latest EP. They play Progressive/Post-Metal.
I’m a big fan of Devil Sold His Soul’s early work, but somehow I never kept up with them and this is my first exposure to them in a while. I was interested to hear this EP for this reason, especially as this is their first release with a new vocalist.
As always their music is impassioned, expansive and very heavy when it needs to be. Their songwriting has become even more developed than their older work, however.
It’s immediately apparent that their new vocalist fits the band like a glove. Scathing screams seem to spike painfully into your mind, but you like it anyway; soaring cleans rise gracefully from the emotive riffs whilst cascading leads swell up around them. Replacing a vocalist can be a very tricky thing to do successfully, but I’m immediately sold.
These tracks, (of which there are five), combine crushing guitars and soothing, sombre tones to create a collection of songs that pluck at the heartstrings as well as trying to pull them out.
The combined fiery melancholic nature of the guitars mix with vocals that veritably drip with emotion; these songs reveal a band that are at the height of their powers.
It’s like the power and passion of Year Of No Light, the dynamic energy of Deftones and the flawless delivery of Cult of Luna all rolled into one exciting package.
Sarpedon are from Norway and this is their début album. They play Progressive Metal.
This is sharp Progressive Metal with charismatic vocals that lead the way. Think a band like Nevermore for a quick and easy comparison; Progressive Metal with an emphasis on the Metal.
The music is solid and full of expressive leads and solos. Good rhythmic riffing and dependable drumming underscore everything, but the vocals are definitely the focal point.
Powerfully sung, they have a theatrical quality to them that imbues every song with character and personality.
The music is both technical and melodic as well as featuring a slight Blackened edge that colours some of the riffs now and again. The inclusion of blast beats and the styling of the band logo means that Sarpedon have a definite Black Metal feel to them; like a Black Metal band with clean vocals in places – akin to Vintersorg, for example
The songs are definite growers; repeated listens reveals hidden depths to the music whilst the vocal hooks and harmonies further borrow into your subconscious.
A recommended listen; give Sarpedon the time to get to know you and get inside your skull.
Greensleeves are a Brazilian Progressive Metal band and this is their second album.
Are you happy with how it turned out?
How do you see your position in the wider Metal musical framework/genre?
Wonderbox Metal 