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As Britain
slowly catches up with the rest of Europe in the metal stakes, the likes
of Greece have become hotbeds of talent when it comes to all things metal.
A case in question is Wastefall, who’s third release 'Self Exile' brings
the bands anger infused progressive sound back to the masses.
The album opens
up with ‘Willow Man’ and straight away the angst sound of the band is put
right out there for all to hear, with the most prominent feature of the
tracks being the menacing vocal content.
The heavy angry
face of progressive rock is tamed down a little on ‘The Muzzle Affection’,
which is more along the lines of something Muse would do, with downtrodden
vocals that are broken up by some haunting female vocals and some
aggressive guitar and keyboard sections.
Then the sound
takes a complete change in direction with the introduction of Spanish
guitars on ‘Dance Of Descent’. A track that has similar qualities to
some of Breed 77’s material. The more traditionalists will love the
harder edged songs on the album like ‘Another Hostile Haven’ and ‘E.Y.E.’,
while those that want something new from the genre are going to love the
haunting melodies of ‘Strife For Definition’ and the excellent dark tones
of ‘Sleepwalk’.
But the hottest
track of the album for me has to be ‘Utopia Fragmentation’, which mixes
the likes of Pagans Mind with Threshold to bring forth a different animal
altogether.
The album takes
another turn in the road to progressive individuality with another
haunting tune. This time ‘4 Minutes To Abandon’ breaks all the rules
of the genre and brings in again the Spanish guitars, doing away with the
heavy bass and drums, leaving it down to the vocals and guitar to give the
track depth and stature.
The album closes
with ‘Provoke The Devine’, another haunting song this time with a strong
orchestral string sections. Another strong track that breaks the
mould when it comes to progressive metal and rounds off this quite unique
album, that has something for all fans of the genre, both the diehard
traditionalist and the new breed of young fans who what something out of
the ordinary and ground breaking from the genre. |
