4. Obsessions / Epysode [2011]Unbelievably, this was *not* my AOTY for 2011. Stay tuned.
May 2012... My first roulette, round one. The format I had had a little head-to-head competition going on, and I had Nem (Obscure for those that don't know, since she's not regular anymore) vs RJ out of the gate. Got RJ’s song first (IQ, The Wrong Side of Weird). What a great tune. I had no idea how Nem was going to match up with that song it was so good. Well, as Connery said in The Untouchables “They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue.” She did it ‘The Chicago Way’ and
. Sending me the title track from this album, and I make very little exaggeration when I say it ‘moved’ me... as in the George Costanza “I think it moved” way. Prog-metal as fuck, and sending the video was something special; a nice little intro to the concept, and a beautifully produced rendition of the band laying the beat down on my musical senses, in a way akin to how a chunk of undissolved wasabi hits your pallet and nasal passage. Epysode is a project-based outfit, forged from the brilliance of Samuel Arkan. Musically, outside of Kris Gildenlow the rest of the musicians aren’t exactly from the A-List - Samuel Arkan (Virus IV), Léo Margarit - Pain Of Salvation, Ruud Jolie), Christophe Godin (Gnô, Morglbl Trio), and Julien Spreutels (Ethernity). However, as I’ve come to learn, unbelievable talent is everywhere, and popularity or notoriety is not a requisite for brilliant talent.
On to the album... most concepts are pretty easy to grasp, or might need a handful of listens to get the general gist of what’s going on. Obsessions is like no other concept I’ve heard... not politically motivated, sci-fi, fantasy, real life or romantic. Just by the names of the characters, you can tell that this is a super-natural thriller. Vocally, it’s a powerhouse. Kelly Sundown - Kallon (The Profiler); Magali Luyten - Esh (The Soul); Oddleif Stensland - Yae (The Fallen/Killer); Liselotte "Lilo" Hegt - Valma (The Medium); Rick Aitzi - Maymos (The Ghost). However, what can’t be told from the lyrics or the cast is the depth of the back-story, which could very easily be a full-length feature movie, a delicately woven tale with dark, unearthly, and unexpected twists. Up to this point, most of my love for female vocalists had been either the bluesy rocker chicks of old (Joplin, Wilson, Jordan), or the newer symphonic opera babes (Turanen, Adel, Jansen). Luyten gave me some deep, hard-core metal that I’d never heard from a lady before. Wow (and man, she’s smokin’!). Stensland nails whole bunch of vocal styles from clean to aggressive, and delivers them with a deep and powerful aggression. Altzi is gritty and full of charisma, and Hegt (Gildenlow’s wife if you didn’t know) provides a nice counter-balance to Luyten’s deep and dark vocals, with a smoother and more traditional sound and range that I’d expect from a female vocalist.
Since some of the above comments “borrow” from Nem’s review of the album, I’ll now give formal credit, and finish with some “paraphrasing”.
Musically... “The thick textures, the structure, the sound, the variety, the jaw dropping guitar work, the atmospheric and exciting keys, competent drum work… What this combination yields, coupled with the dazzling vocals – oh, there are many moments of pure vox-gasm there! -- is a masterpiece.”
Vocally... “All these guys are doing a phenomenal job at conveying the emotion of their respective roles. The cast works call and responses very well… The diversity in their voices and styles is yet another win. All in all, very well chosen bunch shining brightly throughout the album. At times, the album gets vocally driven which is not surprising as the musicianship on the background is consistently impeccable throughout and the vocals have the freedom to drive the listener. And, oh boy, these guys have the means to drive you every which way they want – from desperation to hope, frustration to rage, despair to happiness… If it wasn’t for the brilliant musicianship, they could have been singing to anything and it would have been a masterpiece anyway!”
On the album as a whole ... “the Song-writing is phenomenal. There’s not a bad, even average song in this batch. All are technical, complex, layered, catchy and all complement to the whole picture. At times, it gets really metal and when it does it just grabs you by your collar and slams you into your speakers so you pay attention. They also flow perfectly into each other. Obviously, having this concept behind, it’s one of those albums you want to hear in one go, each song in sequence. It is best to be enjoyed as a whole as it is clearly envisioned to be a complete experience. Even if you visit the album for one particular song, it will make you want to hear the whole thing!”
It’s pretty incredible that despite being a brilliant concept album that must be listened to start-to-finish to be truly appreciated, other than the two opening/intro tracks, each song can stand on its own merits as an individual song. Put them all together though, and it is something beyond special, beyond magical, beyond impressive, beyond spectacular ... I really don’t know what single word in the English language can be used to describe it.
Still waiting (10 years now) for the final instalment as I'd mentioned in the Epysode/Fantasmagoria writeup a couple months back, down at #24
Fave Song -
ObsessionsI've probably watched this video a 100 times (not exaggerating), and never tire of it. Gonna go watch it again right now.