The Prog metal world is a deep dark world where there are so many bands vying for your attention that it’s easy to miss killer releases that just fall by the wayside. This album had been out two years before I managed to hear a tune whilst bandcamping one night. So I dived in and bought the whole album.
First song in The Tempest reminds of djent royalty Tesseract, especially with the heavy groove and melodic vocal. The solo is really cool by Sam Vallen. Killer opening track!!! Slow Violence has a very busy main riff and a wicked groove. I love crazy time signatures! Salt leads you into a false sense of security with a very delicate piano intro, and then insanity ensues with a crazy drum pattern and heavy riffs aplenty. That then subsides into a beautiful delicate vocal. WOW!!! Resonate is a beautiful atmospheric piece with a delicate soft vocal. Oceanrise has a superb choppy main riff, and the drum groove is wonderful. Valkyrie has an insane riff and groove at the intro; this is my favourite track. Freaking awesome!!! Autumn is another beautiful melodic piece driven by the main acoustic guitar. The Ascent is technically the last track on the record proper, and it’s crazy riff city. The track is full of dynamic light and shade moments.
On the vinyl you get two bonus tracks, which are both covers. The first is a great version of Peter Gabriel’s Don’t Give Up, and the next is a cover of Split Enz’ Message To My Girl. Both oversee the band putting their stamp on each of them. It’s worth going down the rabbit whole on bandcamp as there are some amazing bands out there.
9/10 from The Grooveman.
