Author Topic: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #1: I'm Not Sorry For That At All  (Read 30649 times)

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Offline Sacul

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #17: Look at All Dem Genre Tags
« Reply #280 on: June 02, 2016, 08:09:10 PM »
Agreed, fantastic record  :metal

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #17: Look at All Dem Genre Tags
« Reply #281 on: June 02, 2016, 08:19:03 PM »
there are two DMM records in the top 16, how does that make you feel

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #17: Look at All Dem Genre Tags
« Reply #282 on: June 02, 2016, 08:29:21 PM »
Like my participation on your roulette wasn't a total failure  :tup

I guess Bilo 3.0 is among the next 3, and ECO is at #9, maybe #10.

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #17: Look at All Dem Genre Tags
« Reply #283 on: June 02, 2016, 08:50:59 PM »
we shall see  :corn

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #17: Look at All Dem Genre Tags
« Reply #284 on: June 03, 2016, 12:16:44 AM »
Mantiis is fucking amazing (see my top 50 albums). Glad you liked it this much as well. Nice write-up too :)
Hey dude slow the fuck down so we can finish together at the same time.  :biggrin:
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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #16: A Moon Without Light of its Own
« Reply #285 on: June 03, 2016, 01:07:27 AM »
#16: Alcest - Écailles de Lune



The main word that comes to mind for this album: Gorgeous. A few others: Ethereal, dreamy, lush, soothing. Maybe sometimes also intense or somber. It's a succinct and heavily atmospheric album that knows its sound and knows what it wants to do with it, and thus ends up being quite a joy to listen to.

One strength of the album is its two-sided record feel; the two parts of the title track are longer strings of musical passages creating a flowing, unstructured feel, with the latter half of the album being more straightforward and song-oriented. What this really helps do is showcase the diversity of the sound and keep the album from getting too played out; and as well, each song ends up sounding relatively unique because of it.

This two-sided structure does have some slight flaws, though; Écailles Pt. 2 especially feels a bit incohesive, transitions between its various passages not flowing so great. On the flipside, Solar Song and Sur L'océan Couleur de Fer both end up a bit too straightforward and simple; the former relies on its dreamy but dense atmosphere a bit too heavily, and the latter is a nice counterpoint to the lush sound of the rest of the album, but its emptiness perhaps goes on too long and it doesn't reach its peak as quickly as it feels it should. This isn't really a knock against any of these songs, though, since I still quite enjoy each and every one of them despite their flaws.

The harsh vocals on this album are rare, only appearing on the second and third tracks, and pretty sparsely even then. They're used to varying effects; the really intense early moments of Écailles Pt. 2 work quite well, and the slower, more melodic moments of Écailles Pt. 2 and closer to the end of Percées are pretty solid too. I'm not so sure about the harsh vocals complimenting the upbeat and not especially heavy earlier moments of Percées, though, it just doesn't work for me, though the guitar line their isn't especially strong anyways.

There's also a few little touches throughout the album that I feel deserve some mention. There's this neat at 2:45 of Écailles Pt. 2 with little else besides a folky acoustic line and some screeching guitar fuzz, it's just a really interesting and memorable moment. There's some female vocals added to the lush atmospheres near the end of Écailles Pt. 2 and in the middle of Percées. There's a few moments of sound effects driving atmosphere, too; the oceanic sounds at the start of Écailles Pt. 2 and the unsettling interlude of Abysses.

Beyond that... well, you're going to find a lot of a few different types of sounds. There's some really gorgeous clean or acoustic guitar moments; the practically iconic intro (at least, to me) of Écailles Pt. 1, the oceanic intro and long, utterly breathtaking outro of Écailles Pt. 2, a brief moment in the middle of Percées complimented by thumping drums, a bass-driven break near the end of Solar Song, and the entirety of Sur L'Océan. There's the really lush and gorgeous, more laidback moments that are especially prevalent throughout the album; a good chunk of Écailles Pt. 1, really warm and pleasant stuff, the second harsh vocal passage of Écailles Pt. 2 that still sounds rather pretty in spite of the vocals, the middle strech of Percées with its female vocals, and pretty much the entirety of the very ethereal Solar Song. And there's the moments of black metal intensity; a nice driving moment about 2 minutes into Écailles Pt. 1 as well as its somewhat downtempo blastbeat outro the intense opening passages of Écailles Pt. 2 with some moments of slight groove, and the kind of bouncy and upbeat main line of Percées that unfortunately wears thin pretty quickly, as well as the slower but still driving section near the end. That's the sound of the album, and really, on the whole, it's quite a strong one.

There's really little else to say beyond that. It's definitely balanced a bit more towards the post-rock and shoegaze side of things, but there's still a lot of metal influence here, with a few particularly intense moments, but the goal was clearly to make an album that sounds pretty and dense more than one that sounds crushingly heavy, and in that regards, it's definitely a success. I actually found this album quite nice to sleep to, but it's also a great album to just sit down and have a nice 40 minutes with; even the weakest moments here are far from unpleasant and while there aren't a ton of really standout moments, it's just a solid and enjoyable ride from front to back.

Favorite Tracks: Écailles de Lune, Pt. 1, Écailles de Lune, Pt. 2, Sur L'océan Couleur de Fer
Least Favorite Track: Percées de Lumière

8.5/10

DTF Addendum: Honestly this would be a pretty easy 9/10+ album without Percées, which is kind of just "there" and brings the album down a notch for me. I don't know. I like parts of it but as a whole it's probably my least favorite track between the two Alcest albums I have. Totally worth checking out this album though, it's pretty short too so there's really no excuse. Also this is probably the meanest title thus far in the best way, since The Congregation still hasn't shown up and all  :P

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #16: A Moon Without Light of its Own
« Reply #286 on: June 03, 2016, 01:20:46 AM »
Screw you for that title :lol
Hey dude slow the fuck down so we can finish together at the same time.  :biggrin:
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Offline Crow

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #16: A Moon Without Light of its Own
« Reply #287 on: June 03, 2016, 01:22:07 AM »
you should go listen to alcest, regardless  :corn

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #16: A Moon Without Light of its Own
« Reply #288 on: June 03, 2016, 02:45:25 AM »
I first heard this album back when it came out, so yeah.
Hey dude slow the fuck down so we can finish together at the same time.  :biggrin:
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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #16: A Moon Without Light of its Own
« Reply #289 on: June 03, 2016, 02:56:04 AM »
I love Voyages but this one's also pretty great, sitting at a comfortable 7.75 for me. Percees de Lumiere is probably my favorite :lol that main riff is always the first thing that pops into my mind when I think of Alcest, and I'm very much into that soft/heavy contrast between the vocals and the instruments.

All of the things I heard from this band is very consistent though so there's no real standout song for me.
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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #16: A Moon Without Light of its Own
« Reply #290 on: June 03, 2016, 03:40:29 AM »
Two great albums! My main problem with Alcest is that they haven't had that one amazing album yet. Ecailles De Lune is probably the closest they've gotten, but while it starts off really strong, the second half drops in quality for me. Still, just as a song to song band, they are amazing.

Offline Tomislav95

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #16: A Moon Without Light of its Own
« Reply #291 on: June 03, 2016, 03:52:45 AM »
I liked them few years ago but I never actively listened to them, they were more of a background music for me. Les Voyages is good but I agree with Zantera, they are not too consistent.
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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #15: Door The Obvious
« Reply #292 on: June 03, 2016, 09:11:24 AM »
#15: Dordeduh - Dar De Duh



This album... is a behemoth of an album, pretty obviously. A packed-to-bursting single disc combining a ton of different influences to make a unique but really, really difficult album to get into. Seriously, I still don't feel quite ready to review this one even after some dozen or so spins over the course of 4 months.

Maybe its main problem is that this album isn't very interested in hooks, though there are a few. So it never really sticks in your head, but when you put it on, you tend to notice... that it's really quite good. Great, even. There's a ton of variety on display, a strong balance between the lighter and heavier parts of the album, many interesting uses of the folky elements throughout the album, some subtle reprising and continuity nods, and a really cohesive sound. And then... you forget 75% of it the moment the album ends, but remember it fondly.

At least, that's my experience. The weird part is, I'm not sure there's even a lot of filler here? It feels like too much, but at the same time there's not a lot that feels like it could be cut to make a more succint whole. The album has a really strong flow to it, especially when the songs outright bleed into each other so seamlessly that you barely notice it; for the longest time I thought the start of Cumpăt was the outro of Zuh, and the only way to tell when E-an-na ends and Calea Roţilor de Foc begins is because the former has no metal in it at all, but the transition is otherwise pretty seamless.

And the songs themselves all flow well too. Jind de Tronuri starts out with a slow build, exploding into life a few minutes in before settling into a locked groove for the next few minutes, reaching a more driving middle before returning to the triplet groove and ending with a lot folky outro build. Flăcărarii builds back up and then stays at a pretty satifyingly heavy level throughout, with enough dynamic shifts to not end up monotonous. Ea-an-na is a long, quiet build, starting off rather free-flowing, continually getting denser and faster until it ends by exploding into Calea Roţilor de Foc. The first two minutes of this track are an exercise in outdoing each previous moment's intensity, followed up by a middling heaviness that gradually builds up more intensity before a long softer outro. Pândarul starts off heavy, strips back for a quieter middle that builds back up to an intense outro. Zuh kicks off with another long build, exploding into life about 3 minutes in for a brief moment before returning to another quieter build, back into a heavy build towards an intense climax, dropping out for a quiet break before a final kick of energy to close out the track. Cumpăt alternates between medium softness and crushing heaviness for its first few minutes, staying louder for its middle and ending with a slow death of somber atmosphere. Dojană closes as a driving folk piece that escalates throughout its runtime, closing out on a somber note. There's very few awkward transitions along the entire ride and more than enough smooth ones to make up for it.

Obviously, one of the most notable features on this album is its folk elements, and they're here in spades, they see far more use than on OM and the album's all the better for it. Jind de Tronuri kicks off with xylophone and percussion driving the atmosphere, ominous vocals providing backing. There's a flute that comes in near the middle of the track, as well, and the last 5 minutes are a long build off wooden percussion, folky guitar, off-kilter flute and playful vocals. Pândarul runs the full spectrum of the album's more flavorful elements; some really folky vocal lines, a good helping of flute, and some xylophone accentuating a particularly groovy guitar line. And of course Dojană is nothing but the folk elements of the album. The other songs have scatterings of it too; a lot of flute, a few other moments of ominous or playful vocals, some wooden percussion. The only track really lacking any folky touches at all is Flăcărarii, probably to its deficit.

This is a pretty interesting album in that it's right in that slot between "good atmospheric music" and "good active listening music" in that it has a good helping of both parts spliced together well enough to not really be either at the same time, but also both simultaneously. A lot of the quieter moments lean more towards atmosphere, but there's always a sense of progression, the songs never sit still for too long. The long build of Jind de Tronuri, the entirety of E-an-na, Calea Roţilor de Foc's slow burn during its outro, the escalating groove in the middle of Pândarul, the subtle build at the start of Zuh, the somber deescalation of Cumpăt, all particularly long quiet moments for the album yet all manage to stay interesting throughout. As far as the heavier moments go, you have a lot of moments of crushing intensity; moments throughout Flăcărarii, the manic build at the start of Calea Roţilor de Foc, the crushing outro of Pândarul, the climax of Zuh, the frantic, desperate middle build of Cumpăt; all of which are not lingered on to the point of getting tiresome and often carry through two or three different musical passages as long as they last. Even more than this though, you just have a ton of great riffs; the awesome 70's groove about a quarter into Jind de Tronuri as well as driving riff in its middle, the fuzzy guitar line and great groove in the middle of Flăcărarii, the addictive chorus riff of Pândarul as well as a strong groove near its end, the first heavy groove of Zuh later reprised during its outro. There's a ton of more relaxed heavy atmospheres, too, more than even worth mentioning.

The variety in vocals is also talking about; there's a lot of cleans here, a lot more than on OM, and a good chunk of them are pretty playful in nature, as well as often harmonized. The harsh vocals are still prevalent through a lot of the heavier moments as well, and there's some interesting moments of the clean and harsh vocals playing off each other quite well, either alternating or synchronizing. Another pretty prevalent aspect is the huge walls of synths and synthstrings throughout a good chunk of the album, providing a backing for some of the quieter atmospheric moments and driving the intensity of a lot of the heavier ones over the top. And then even on top of that, you have the bass throughout that gets just a ton of awesome grooves. The bass accompanying the 70's groove section of Jind de Tronuri, a driving groove in the middle of Flăcărarii and a really brief but awesome moment at 4:40, a tense bassline driving the later build of E-an-na, a thick bass backing the outro of Calea Roţilor de Foc, another heavy bassline at the start of Pândarul, a playful line accompanying that awesome groovy riff, and a killer bass groove going throughout the entire middle of the track. Zuh has a solid bassline driving its triplet groove, and Cumpăt a driving bassline closing off the track. And I can't go without mentioning the callback to the alternating 4/4 and 3/4 passages of Calea Roţilor de Foc that happen in Pândarul, such a subtle touch that works so well.

This review has gone on plenty long enough, I feel, but that's because there's both a lot to talk about with this album on top of all the really cool and interesting things it does. There's 78 minutes of music here and at least 70+ feel absolutely essential, great listening. I still have to hold the album's lack of staying power against it a little, but that's about all I can hold against it, since beyond that it's an enjoyable, cohesive, and unique ride that leaves me pleased every time I listen to it.

Favorite Tracks: Jind de Tronuri, Pândarul, Dojană, Zuh, E-an-na
Least Favorite Track: Flăcărarii

8.5/10

DTF Addendum: This is the kind of album where even some 10-15 spins later I feel like I haven't yet given it enough listens. There's just... a lot to find here, the listen I did while reviewing had me noticing some things I didn't before and really enjoying the entire thing while doing so. It's definitely... rather overwhelming at first though, for sure.

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #15: Door The Obvious
« Reply #293 on: June 03, 2016, 11:13:33 AM »
What the fuck is this :lol
I have to listen to his for the title alone
Hey dude slow the fuck down so we can finish together at the same time.  :biggrin:
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Offline Tomislav95

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #15: Door The Obvious
« Reply #294 on: June 03, 2016, 12:03:13 PM »
 :corn (don't kill me pls)
...the years just pass like trains
I wave but they don't slow down...

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #15: Door The Obvious
« Reply #295 on: June 03, 2016, 12:24:11 PM »
-1 point tomislav

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #15: Door The Obvious
« Reply #296 on: June 03, 2016, 12:32:25 PM »
Durr Dy Durr - Hurr Durr

 :2corn:
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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #15: Door The Obvious
« Reply #297 on: June 03, 2016, 12:34:19 PM »
tbh it is pretty silly music a lot of the time so it fits

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #14: Our Fortress Is Burning
« Reply #298 on: June 03, 2016, 08:27:02 PM »
#14: Ne Obliviscaris - Citadel



If Portal of I is Ne Obliviscaris defining their sound and showing off as many different facets of it as they can, then Citadel is them taking that sound and refining it. i don't think it's any surprise that there's a higher presence of violin on this album given how much it defined their debut, but there just seems to be a greater variety of music here in general, and on top of that the songs seem to move at a faster pace. There's at least twice as much music in Triptych Lux as most of the Portal of I tracks had.

I really like the three shorter tracks on the album, too, serving as a nice intro, midpoint, and closer for the album and flowing into and out of the longer tracks nicely. I'm going to consider this a three-song album for the sake of the review, but I figured I should give these a mention on their own at the very least. Wyrmholes sets the tone of the album pretty swiftly; it's dark and dissonant, kind of unsettling, the violin really wailing away here. Reveries From the Stained Glass Womb is a moment of respite for the album, a long melodic violin solo over some warm guitar. And Contortions is... one of the most terrifying things I've ever heard, the contrast between the unhinged screeching violin and steady, bleak piano... sends chills down my spine every time. It's really something special.

The main meat of the album comes from the three longer tracks that make up the bulk of the three main songs on the album. Once again, there's a balance of clean and harsh vocals throughout, with several moments of both varieties. The harsh vocals are very guttural and rough, playing off the intense music that often backs them; driving guitar chugging, intense drum blastbeats and double bass, driving heavy melodic guitar lines. Even the clean vocals have a number of moments over intense music; the "angels fall" bits of Painters of the Tempest, as well as the crushing climax near the end, and Devour Me, Colossus has a strong heavy guitar groove with some cleans over it in its earlier moments, as well as some climactic cleans over the last heavy moments of the track and album. The moments of harsh and clean interplay are strong, too; there's a few in the first half of Pyrrhic, as well as some of the earlier moments of Devour Me, Colossus. Probably my favorite vocal moments, though, are the cleans during quieter passages of the songs. The middle quiet break of Painters of the Tempest has some lovely vocal melodies, and there's some really gorgeous clean vocals about halfway through Devour Me, Colossus.

Again, the bass on this album is pretty great. It's maybe a bit low in the mix during some of the heavier moments, but plenty audible during the quieter ones. There's very few moments of the bass doubling the guitar, mostly just a lot of strong melodic moments. There's the nice playful bassline during the first clean break of Triptych Lux, the warm bass under the middle break and the gorgeous bass solo that follows, and a really noodly and energetic bassline driving the final build of the track, ending with a somber melodic bassline as it segues into Reveries. There's the subtle, atmospheric bassline during the long middle break of Pyrrhic that grounds the dreamy mood of the section quite well. There's a cool bass groove going on under the guitar grooves of Devour Me, Colossus, a driving bassline around the 5-minute mark keeping the energy through a quieter stretch of the song, evolving as it progresses to a bouncy bass groove when the vocals come back in, and a really melodic bass driving the build at 9 minutes in to the climax of the song. And that's just my personal highlights; plenty more cool moments beyond that.

The drums on this album again seem to not really steal the show much at all; they do well to create an intense mood, driving double bass or frantic blastbeats being two staples, but there doesn't feel like a lot of variety. There's some neat moments of the bass drum mimicking guitar chugging, some jagged rhythms complimenting guitar, and some nice grooves during the quieter moments of the songs, a few moments of thumping, pounding, ominous drums, but even then none of it really stands out as particularly interesting or engaging, though it does compliment the mood well.

The guitar on this album is pretty diverse; during the quieter moments there's a lot of gentle clean guitar melodies or acoustic chords, though a particularly standout moment is the fast atmospheric arpeggios during Reveries From the Stained Glass Womb. There's also a fair few moments of droning guitar fuzz; the ending of Wyrmholes, and especially the escalating wall of noise in the middle of Pyrrhic that abruptly and violently cuts out right when it reaches its peak, really kind of a terrifying moment. There's a few guitar solos, too; a nice melodic one at 10 minutes into Triptych Lux as the song builds back up, and a brief one about 8 and a half minutes into Devour Me, Colossus. More than anything else, though, what this album has in spades are a lot of strong melodic guitar lines, and chugging guitar riffs.  Even during some of the most intense moments of the album, the guitar is doing more than chugging away at chords, and it's what makes this album really stand out; there's just a lot more riffs and melodies than on the previous album, and a lot more diversity with them.

Of course, I'm stalling; let's talk about that violin. Yes, of course it steals the show here again, but the band seems more aware of it here and just rolls with it. It's not like the entire album is drenched in the wailing violin melodies you'd expect, but there's a lot of them, and a lot of variety with them. The bright melodies during the first break of Triptych Lux, a long solo during the middle quiet build of the track, and a climactic solo near the end of the track. Pyrrhic has a number of unsettling violin moments in its first half that often bleed directly into harsh vocal lines or guitar melodies, it's really well-integrated. There's also a really restrained violin line during the slow build of the second half that really helps drive the mood. There's a two-and-a-half solo starting at 5 minutes into Devour Me, Colossus that's a lot darker in tone than the other bigger solos on the album, makes for a nice change of pace. And there's one last wailing violin moment during the song's final build that segues nicely into a guitar lead. And of course, the violin utterly steals the show of the three shorter tracks here, especially Contortions; jesus christ, what a song.

I'm still not going to say it's a perfect album, or one that's fully realized, but it's got more great moments than Portal of I and in two-thirds the time, making it easily a much more cohesive and engaging listen from front to back, not many dull spots with how often the songs change up, and rarely do any of the transitions feel forced or awkward. It's just a well-written album that covers a wide variety of moods, especially the darker and more visceral moods. I'd still call Forget Not the best song the band's done by a pretty solid margin and this album's biggest weakness is not having a song quite that good, but when all the songs the album does have are pretty great regardless it's barely a fault. Just a really strong and unique metal album that I'd recommend to pretty much anyone into extreme metal.

Favorite Tracks: Painters of the Tempest, Devour Me, Colossus, Pyrrhic
Least Favorite Tracks: There's literally three songs and I can't even.

8.5/10

DTF Addendum: Dang, this album is always just a joy to listen to. I kind of want to listen to it again right now. Maybe I will. Violins are terrifying.

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #13: For Real This Time
« Reply #299 on: June 04, 2016, 02:45:45 AM »
#13: Leprous - The Congregation
#4 for 2015



I think I overdosed a bit on this album when I first got it due to how fresh and unique it sounded. I've heard plenty of prog metal, but never an album that seems this stubborn on throwing aside conventions of the genre and replacing them with its own unique flavor. Tons of jagged rhythms and strange chords scattered throughout the entire album, with a lot of synth-driven atmosphere and a ton of catchy choruses making up most of the rest.

The weird thing about this album is how simple it all is. Here's literally every single song structure on the album:
[Intro] - [Verse] - [Chorus] - [Verse] - {Bridge} - [Chorus] - {Outro}

Not every track has a bridge or outro but the rest? Completely intact in every track. There may be a few slight deviations from the formula, sure, but it doesn't change much. And that's... completely fine, when the band is as good at pulling off all these structures as well as they do. It's not like the album sounds really samey; I'd say every track is unique enough, with a few of them especially having a ton of flavor to them.

The album is a great balance of all the instruments and the vocals, as well. Guitars drive a lot of the grooves and power, drums handle the often complex rhythms, synths drive the atmosphere, and the vocals handle the emotional aspects of the album. The only instrument here that feels a bit underplayed is the bass, which honestly doesn't seem to have a lot to do other than double the guitar.

Special mention should be given to Einar's vocals, as he may be one of the best vocalists in metal right now. He nails every single moment he has on the album without fail. Somber, softer verses? Expect some pretty, smooth melodies. Powerful chorus? Einar can handle the intensity, usually makes it sound even bigger. And even the moment of growls at the end of Rewind sounds great. More than anything else he's what makes this album work. The best chorus on the album easily belongs to The Flood, but Triumphant and Third Law aren't far behind, and even the simpler choruses like Down work quite well.

Not that I intend to sideline the rest of the album. Let's start with the riffs. Because... damn, can these guys write and play a great riff. The main riff of The Price is absolutely addictive, and Down has a pretty catchy jagged riff as well. Red is especially interesting for how technical it is throughout and the guitar drives a lot of the main riff here. The more straightforward riffs don't slack, either; the verse riff of Third Law is a real headbanger, the consistent groove of The Flood is probably its greatest strength, and especially the main riff of Triumphant, which is one of the best riffs I've ever heard. I don't mind that basically the entire song is based off that riff, it's just fantastic.

The drums get a ton of moments to shine, too. The energetic but restrained verses of The Price, the chaotic intro of Third Law as well as the more atmospheric reprise later on, the build of the second verse of Rewind and the sheer intensity of its outro, the groove at the end of The Flood, the rawness of Triumphant, and last but definitely not least Moon, which is practically just a showcase of how good the drums are at setting the mood. There's almost an ambient rhythm to the softer parts, a lot of power to the chorus, and the build in the outro is wonderful.

The song excels in its slower, softer moments as well, though. Slave especially is just pure atmosphere, an apocalyptic, bleak mood throughout, driven by huge guitar and piercing synths, with Einar's strained, broken vocals matching the mood perfectly. There's a lot of moments especially driven by the synth; the first verse of Rewind builds on a quiet synth line, the pulse of The Flood is driven by a bassy synth, and Moon has a ton of atmosphere in its verses and outro buildup. Lower has some nice softer moments too in its verses.

Really there's very little to dislike here. Within My Fence doesn't have the greatest main riff and the vocal lines are a bit annoying at points, but I still have to admit it has a great chorus. And Red is maybe a bit too overindulgent for its own good, it's a cool song but pretty hard to get too into. Lower is also a bit anticlimactic of a finale but it's still a solid song on its own.

Mostly this is nitpicking though, the album is pretty damn strong front-to-back, though I'd say the first 5 songs pretty handily destroy most of the rest, it's a bit frontloaded for sure. If you want a real breath of fresh air in the progressive metal community, or just an oddly accessible but still satisfying album, I'd easily recommend it, and I'm definitely interested in seeing where the band goes from here.

Favorite Tracks: The Flood, Rewind, Slave, Triumphant, Third Law
Least Favorite Track: Within My Fence

8.5/10

DTF Addendum: I can totally understand why people wouldn't like this album but personally it's totally my kind of music. It's also pretty easy to burn out on and I wouldn't say every track is spectacular but a good number of them are quite good. I have Bilateral in my pile-o-stuff-what-I-got-last-month and actually am gonna put it into my rotation tomorrow so we'll see how it stacks up to this one for me.

Offline jakepriest

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #13: For Real This Time
« Reply #300 on: June 04, 2016, 02:58:14 AM »
Best vocalist? I can't stand a single line of his singing, not to mention entire songs.
The vocalist is probably the main reason why I can't get into this band.

Offline Scorpion

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #13: For Real This Time
« Reply #301 on: June 04, 2016, 04:33:49 AM »
Two awesome albums. I don't love The Congregation as much as you seem to love it, but it was definitely a real breath of fresh in air in prog metal and a huge improvement over Coal.

I'm still not quite sure which NeO album I prefer. I'd probably have them both around 9-ish, so I rate both of them a little higher than you do, but they are both stunning.
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Offline Elite

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #13: For Real This Time
« Reply #302 on: June 04, 2016, 04:36:45 AM »
Within My Fence is the fifth best track though :)
Hey dude slow the fuck down so we can finish together at the same time.  :biggrin:
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Offline Tomislav95

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #13: For Real This Time
« Reply #303 on: June 04, 2016, 04:51:03 AM »
I love The Congregation :tup I knew Bilateral before The Congregation was released but with The Congregation I fell in love with their music and then I realized Bilateral is great as well (and TPS). Have yet to check Coal.
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Offline BlackInk

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #13: For Real This Time
« Reply #304 on: June 04, 2016, 05:29:14 AM »
The Congregation is a good album. And Einar might be "one of the best vocalists in metal" one day, if he ever learns the language he insists on singing in. His voice itself is great though.

Offline Train of Naught

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #13: For Real This Time
« Reply #305 on: June 04, 2016, 05:34:57 AM »
Actually the 'foreign articulation' is one of the charms of Leprous' vocals to me, if he improves on his english skills the foreign accent might deminish/vanish.
people on this board are actual music fans who developed taste in music and not casual listeners who are following current fashion trends and listening to only current commercial hits.

Offline BlackInk

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #13: For Real This Time
« Reply #306 on: June 04, 2016, 05:36:47 AM »
Really? It just annoys the hell out of me every time he butchers his own words.

Offline LordCost

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #13: For Real This Time
« Reply #307 on: June 04, 2016, 07:42:29 AM »
The Congregation is a good album. And Einar might be "one of the best vocalists in metal" one day, if he ever learns the language he insists on singing in. His voice itself is great though.
Luckily I can't hear the bad English, and to me is my favourite vocalist in metal today. I have never heard vocal performances as powerful as the ones on the end of Forced Entry, Acquired Taste, Mb. Indifferentia or the first half of Foe, just to name the first three clearest examples. I have to admit that from the recent live video I saw on youtube he might not be as extraordinary as he was when I saw him in 2011.

Daniel Gildenlow of PoS is my really close second favourite.

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #13: For Real This Time
« Reply #308 on: June 04, 2016, 08:10:50 AM »
Unfortunately Gildenlöw isn't remotely capable of what he did on records like TPE nowadays, which is a damn shame.
Hey dude slow the fuck down so we can finish together at the same time.  :biggrin:
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Offline Sacul

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #13: For Real This Time
« Reply #309 on: June 04, 2016, 09:54:55 AM »
I've been listening to Leprous songs on and off for years and they've never clicked with me :P

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #12: Return of the Djent
« Reply #310 on: June 04, 2016, 10:28:47 AM »
#12: David Maxim Micic - Bilo 3.0



The gap between Bilo 2.0 and 3.0 has to be one of the biggest jumps in quality I've ever seen. Gone are the mindless djent riffing and tedious, show-offy instrumentals. Instead, we've got a lot of gorgeous, well-textured gentler moments, a long list of vocalists to drive powerful melodies and hooks, and just a much wider variety of styles and songs.

The album's order feels well thought-out and carefully planned to be as natural-sounding as possible; the gentle start of Everything's Fine, the bombastic build of Where Is Now?, the heaviness and catchy chorus of Smile, the cooldown reprise of Nostalgia, the atmosphere and build of Wrinkle Maze, and the pure power and beauty of Daydreamers, every track is in its right place and the album ends up all the better for it.

There's a lot of non-metal elements on this album, probably more than the metal really. Everything's Fine is a beautiful piano and strings instrumental, building up to a powerful crescendo by the song's end. Where Is Now? flows almost effortlessly into a big band and scat singing interlude, Smile has some wailing, unhinged vocals from both a male and female singer, one of the main motifs of Nostalgia is vaguely bluesy, with an extremely bluesy guitar line coming in near the end. Wrinkle Maze kicks off with almost three minutes of gentle piano and strings build, and Daydreamers has its long middle break with piano, child vocals, a folky guitar line, and some gentle xylophone(?) twinkles creating a very delicate atmosphere. And it's all just really-well integrated into the music.

The djent influences are not gone entirely, either, but often used as a foundation for something more interesting. There's the chuggy groove under the Bilo Part IV motif during large parts of Where Is Now? that gives the song a great driving feel, and the spectacular groove that builds the bass for the big band section later in the song. Smile has a really djenty guitar line during its middle leading up to the strange vocal moments, there's a slight djent vibe to the riff under the motif near the end of Nostalgia, and the bombast of Daydreamers is built off really jagged, djenty grooves driven by guitar, bass, and drums. The only one of these I'm not a fan of is the break in Smile, but it's so short that I don't mind much. The rest, well, the grooves here are clearly not just showing off weird technical stuff nobody really cares about, they're all just strong grooves that compliment the rest of the music well.

There's still a good bit of the soloing that was pretty prevalent throughout the first two Bilo releases, as well; a gorgeous violin solo three minutes into Where Is Now? and a frantic, muted solo near the end, the brief dissonant guitar solo in Smile and a shreddier one closing out the track, some really and pleasant guitar and synth solos halfway through Nostalgia, a triumphant guitar solo driving the climax of Wrinkle Maze, and a restrained melodic guitar solo building up to the final climax of Daydreamers. A few of them veer a bit too hard into showoffy territory but they're generally all pretty solid and the relative sparsity of them compared to previous releases is welcome.

The vocals on this album are very diverse, as well. There's the bombastic wall of vocals in Where Is Now? lead by a female voice, and the playful scat singing breaking in the middle of the track. Smile is driven primarily by a rough-edged female voice toeing the line between pure growls and melody pretty well, still not my favorite vocals but they've grown on me. And of course, the unhinged male and female bits during the chaotic breakdown in the middle of the track. Wrinkle Maze has a choir of vocals coming in for the bombast of its last two minutes, and Daydreamers has a strong female vocal performance backed by some male vocals in its chorus, with the endearing child singing during its quieter moments. I can't really place any of the listed names to the voices, honestly, but they all do a good job, really add a lot to the music here.

The bass gets its moments to shine, as well; the nice, thick groove under the violin solo of Where Is Now?, the bass driving the jagged groove during the verses of Smile. Honestly, more than anything else, the bass utterly dominates Nostalgia, so many great grooves and atmosphere-driving melodies, a ton of small flourishes, it's just generally great. There's a strong bass groove driving the verses of Daydreamers, and the melodic, bass-driven atmosphere that drives the first half of the quiet break is gorgeous as well.

The drums on this album often do well to ground and drive the grooves; the steady rhythms during the first half of Where Is Now? and the booming drive during the louder moments of Daydreamers especially. There's a lot of quieter moments where drums have a restrained energy to them, lots of soft snare hits creating a frantic but quiet mood. The first verses of Smile, the atmosphere of Nostalgia, and the groove backing the guitar-driven break of Daydreamers. I wouldn't really say there are a lot of real standout moments but the drums do their job well, certainly.

Really, what makes this album work so well more than its diversity and creativity is the fact that it emotes so much better than Micic's previous works. From the gorgeous Everything's Fine, to the driving Where Is Now?, to the intense Smile, to the, well, nostalgic Nostalgia, the gentle Wrinkle Maze, and the balance of pure intensity and beauty of Daydreamers. A large chunk of the music can really just breathe and feel natural with how organic and emotive it is, it's really the element Micic had been missing more than anything else up until now.

On the whole though, yeah, I'm definitely a happier person for having spun this album as many times as I have, it's a joy to listen to and keep listening to, and such an improvement in only a year and a half from the previous Bilo. If you're bored of djent in general, this is probably a good album to go to since it has a lot of the same elements but rarely seems to want to use them in the clichéd manner djent normally does, and there's much more progressive rock/metal here than any djent. It's a worthy listen for pretty much anyone, though, I'd say the appeal of this is pretty broad with how many other styles it pulls in and executes well. Great album, definitely.

Favorite Tracks: Nostalgia, Where Is Now?, Daydreamers
Least Favorite Track: Smile

8.75/10

DTF Addendum: Waddup Sacul  :corn

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #12: Return of the Djent
« Reply #311 on: June 04, 2016, 10:29:41 AM »
on an unrelated note, if i cared about lyrics at all maybe i'd care that he mispronounces words but i've never really noticed it so  :lol

Offline 425

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #12: Return of the Djent
« Reply #312 on: June 04, 2016, 10:42:48 AM »
I like this one pretty well. I don't really like the vocals in Smile. Wrinkle Maze and Daydreamers are really good, though!
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Offline BlackInk

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #12: Return of the Djent
« Reply #313 on: June 04, 2016, 11:05:31 AM »
I agree about Bilo 3.0. It's a great album.

Offline jakepriest

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Re: Parama's 2015 Retrospective List: #12: Return of the Djent
« Reply #314 on: June 04, 2016, 11:09:08 AM »
I prefer Lun to anything DMM has done, but BILO 3.0 followed by ECO come pretty close.