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nick_z – Descend
1. Avalin
2. Blood Moon
3. Lily
First impression: Not sure I hear that much of the influences this band apparently has, but this seems rather fantastic anyway - dark, epic and huge in sound.
Final opinion: OK so it’s not only you who compared this band to Opeth, I’ve seen it mentioned by others as well, including a handful of reviews. But other than a few moments in Lily - especially the moody intro - I’m not really hearing it as a substantive influence. The general genre and sound, in terms of instrumentation, sure, but that’s hardly unique. But in melodic and harmonic approach, I find Opeth really ethereal and flitting between delicate and demonic, whereas these songs feel more musically straightforward. Not that it matters anyway, because it’s really great stuff. Compositionally it’s amazing, just really well crafted progressive death metal, full of rich music and intensity. One thing that particularly stands out to me is how intricate and interesting a lot of the riffing is. Looking forward to giving the album a listen!
Score: 8.4
Back from my trip and catching up with some posts...
Well, glad you enjoyed it
To be honest with you, if I hadn't read some reviews beforehand, I probably wouldn't have pinned Opeth as an obvious influence either. I agree with you it's certainly not the primary thing you hear. Although, as I was mentioning in the PM, the song "The Purest One" probably has the largest "dose" of that influence, especially in the light/dark, acoustic/heavy contrasts throughout the tune.
Anyway, good stuff. I had sent you my light-round songs last week, so you should be good to go with those.
Topic: ariich's DARK TO LIGHT roulette (v8) - Post-roulette updates (ongoing) (Read 91595 times)