Tool – Page 4 – Wonderbox Metal

Coshish – Firdous (Review)

Coshish are from India and play Progressive Rock that is very well put together and realised.

Lighter than most of the bands reviewed on this site; this is for moments of introspection and contemplation, and fans of Tool, Porcupine Tree, (new) Opeth and (elements of) Orphaned Land should lap this up.

Firdous is an involved concept album documenting a young man’s journey towards attaining Mukti, (liberation or release), and the lyrics are entirely in Hindi. This story spills out into the detailed artwork and even the tracklisting, where the optimal order of the tracks is a puzzle to solve using clues from the complete digipak artwork. A lot of thought has gone into this release.

None of which would matter a damn if the music didn’t meet these high standards, but it so obviously does from the first track onwards. Coshish create a rich tapestry of sound and impression via expansive Progressive Rock.

The songs are very well crafted and full of an array of instrumentation and harmonic flourishes. The content of the compositions is warm and textured, and the tracks uplift and hearten without sounding trite.

The vocals are highly melodic and accomplished, providing the icing on the proverbial cake throughout this delicious album.

As Progressive Rock goes this is an exquisite release brimming with delicacies to satisfy even the most jaded palette. If this is to your taste then there is a feast to be had with Firdous. Eat up.

The Restitution – Waves (Review)

From the US The Restitution are a Progressive Metal band who aim to take a more cerebral approach to harder music.

According to the band they are influenced by modern Metal giants such as Deftones. The Restitution combine both clean and rough vocals over a more thoughtful and progressive musical background to create some good songs, and I hear elements of bands such as Isis, Devil Sold His Soul, Cave-In and Tool in their sound as well.

Melodies are used well and there is enough aggression strewn in with the Post-Rock elements to keep the energy of the tracks moving.

It’s obvious that a lot of attention and hard work has gone into crafting these songs and it all pays off. Whether they are raging and shouting or crooning and lulling, everything feels deliberate and you get the impression that every single second of this release was meticulously thought through and passed rigorous quality control methods before being confirmed as an actual part of the album. All of this leads to a varied and enjoyable collection of songs that work well individually but even better as a complete package of tracks – a listening experience.

Overall this is a high-quality release combining melodies and aggression seamlessly in a modern Metal style that leaves out all of the clichés and rookie mistakes that a lot of more accessible Metal usually makes. Recommended.

Tried For Treason – Weight of Words (Review)

Tried For Treason are from the US and play modern Metal with a bit of grit thrown in to keep things interesting.

The songs show much promise. For a first release they demonstrate a good grasp of song structure and melody, something that they can surely build on for the future.

Vocals are clean and distinctly American, although the band they most remind me of is actually Breed 77 from Gibraltar , sans the more tribal influences. The singer of Tried For Treason shows greater variety though as he also uses rougher vocals and shouts.

Musically, apart from the usual Metal influences you would expect, you can also detect elements of a band like Tool in some of the songs, which can only be a good thing. A lot of modern Metal bands can be high on surface and low on depth, but I think if Tried For Treason can keep this aspect of their sound they could avoid this trap.

They also have guitar solos in every song, which always endears me towards a band.

There is only 11 minutes of music here but if Tried For Treason can continue to develop their style for the next release then they could and should have a bright future ahead of them.