Four bands that I did not know yet at the beginning of this year, who all pleasantly surprised me.
Ard - Take Up My Bones
Ard is the band/project of Mark Deeks also known from Winterfylleth. This album came as a huge surprise to me. I did read first a review on Matt;'s manofmuchmetal page. That was rather overwhelming, so I tried a clip on Youtube, Then another and I was sold. The surprise is that on paper this album does not work all that well for me maybe, but hearing it it definitely does. This is doom metal of the calm sort. Vocals between male choirs and spoken word and a slow pace overall. To make matters more interesting we also get a history lesson about St Cuthbert saint of Northumbria. This album is a great story to listen to on your Sunday morning or lazy early evening. Beautiful as it is, it also is packed very nice. I bought the CD digipack, but later wondered why I did not get the 36 page hardcover book edition with the smashing T-shirt. Well because of unpredictable import taxes, so I hope to see Ard on stage later on and correct at least the T-shirt bit. Highly recommended doom this is, even if far from my more regular doom heavy metal bands like Sorcerer.
Eight Bells - Legacy of Ruin
I also did not know this band in January, but here we are talking about their third album. The only stable bandmember is Melynda Jackson who takes care of guitars and vocals. My attention was drawn to them when I saw Matt Solis plays bass and sings along. He has a past in Cormorant, one of the best discoveries I made (too late unfortunately) past decade. Well the two of them together sing over doomy experimental song structures, further helped out by Brian Burke on drums. Again the packaging is very nice and reminds even of Cormorant. We get six songs only, but as they tend to take their time to get their message acroos we pass the 45 minute mark. There is variation between the songs and at times they even go very heavy (Premonition). The double vocals fit very well to the music and the album flows very well. Maybe I should check their back catalogue out as well. Probably if coming to Holland this band would play Roadburn as it fits the open minded fan best. Finally I could return the favour to Matt as I tipped him on this album and he wrote a very long positive review on it.
Vass/Katsionis - Ethical Dilemma
This band found me, as if they knew that this style goes back to my metal foundations. Ethical Dillema is a Progressive Power Metal album that refers strongest to bands of the nineties. At times Fates Warning (Parallels/Inside Out) comes very much to mind, but I am also reminded of lesser known bands like Psyco Drama or Radakka. For those not knowing him, Bob Katsionis is Greece's answer to Alessandro Del Vecchio or Steve DiGiorgio. Meaning if you want to list all bands and projects he participated in you find yourself writing a book soon. Last year he wrote with Warrior Path possibly the strongest Power Metal album of 2021. Billy Vass was unknown to me, as I don't know any music of his other band Terra Incognita. Bob wrote all the music, while Billy all the lyrics and melody lines. That is interesting as at times I have the impression Billy Vass has to stretch himself to reach the lines he wrote himself. Overall within the album the combination works for me. It is a short album for progmetal standards with only 36 minutes, but if you like any of the above mentioned bands, or 90's powerprogmetal you should check them out really.
WAIT - The End Of Noise
WAIT or We Are In Transit already released an EP in 2019, but this is their debut full lenght. I missed that album, even if at the time I was already heavily into Exist. The overlap between the two bands is vocals by Max Phelps and Alex Weber on bass. The last bandmember is Charlie Eron on guitars. On drums they switch guests, with for me the most famous name in Anup Sastry whom I saw with Intervals once. Musically WAIT is not miles apart from Exist. We get Progressive Death Metal, but with vocals both extreme and clean not of the standard type. I dig these vocals, but read people having issues with them. Musically the album stands strong and also here some Cynic influeneces can be heard. Seven songs in 50 minutes shows that WAIT take their time to develop each song and it is hard for me to pick a favorite. Maybe the almost title track End of Noise is a good candidate here. If you like Exist, you should definitely check this album out, but if you are into progressive death metal in general a listen remains recommended. Good band to open the evening session at ProgPower this is.
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