Danish Progressive Metal act
Anubis Gate has released their fourth album right into space, literary speaking, The Detached is a Sci-fi concept based on the writings of Martin Raulf, an album with strange otherworldly aura.
Vocalist Jacob Hansen (Invocator) does a pretty good job even though he seems to sing quite a lot within the same vocal range. He and guitarist Kim Olsen has created a distinct, slightly cold but sharp and fitting sound for this futuristic journey.
Lets start out with the albums strongest selling points:The unexpected musical detours: The hypnotic way
Find A Way (Or Make One) comes to an end actually works out very well.
You could point out the very diverse mid-section in
Pyramids as another fine example of wry twists, adding cool oriental keys.
The nine-minute
Options - Going Nowhere also come to a dramatic closure with a fusion of sharp bass playing and bombastic keyboard effects.
The tight and heavy rhythm section:When listening to the opening of
Dodecahedron you could easily be mistaking it for a new
Mercenary song, it has the same kind of groovy preciseness. I love the tempo shift in the middle, displaying some excellent drumming.
The thick guitar punches making up the centre of
Bloodoath are equally enjoyable, same goes for the striking lead passages.
The memorable element:Lost In Myself has a really strong and transparent chorus, smoothly executed while the placid
Ammonia Snow has a very soothing effect on your mind, letting your thoughts drift off for a couple of minutes.
And then there's the stuff that keeps it from being an outstanding release: The temporary lack of focus:Some songs miss a binding element and have a tendency to circle around the same pound for too long,
Yiri and
Out of Time comes to mind here.
The story doesn't really sink in:Isolated the lyrics are decent but the storyline as a whole just it's that compelling...the diverse keys and clever effects help make the Sci-Fi scenario trustworthy, but the whole thing becomes slightly distant and I miss a bit of warmth.
Distorted vocals:Not a big problem here but they almost never work out, for anyone band, at any time.
When weighed together there's no doubt that the successful elements takes the lead, this is definitely worth a listen if you like conceptual Progressive Metal with a technical swirl and some fascinating spacy atmospheres.
Written by
Tommy Sunday, September 13, 2009
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