Resurgence

I entitled this review "Concision" because that's what Resurgence is all about: Concision. It's a short yet powerful debut effort from death metal drummer extraordinaire George Kollias and longtime Symphony X bassist Mike LePond. Resurgence has an intense focus, well-defined and chiseled musical timbre, and not much lollygagging or wankery to speak of.

Clocking in at five tracks (six if you count the minute-long prelude) and under a half hour, it's certainly a good thing that the music is so heavily streamlined and well-put together, because there's not much room for internal diversity within the album ('EP' if you're picky). Indeed, Resurgence plays to its strengths and does nothing else. On the one hand, it's nice to have an album from a self-described "progressive metal" that's not schizophrenic noodling. On the other hand, however, the lack of variety is emblematic of a lot of generic power metal.

From a technical standpoint, the album is excellent. Combining Buddy Rich's speed and Neal Peart's precision (no, that's not an exaggeration at all), George Kollias nails his part all while boasting a snot-nosed, punchy snare sound and an understated bass drum sound that works well with his penchant for blastbeating. Kollias' monstrous arrangements of bells and deep-voiced toms are also used well, providing an invaluable backbone that would otherwise be absent due to the lack of rhythm guitar.

Next, also because there's no rhythm guitar, bassist Mike LePond keeps up with the lead with his own creative arpeggio-based frills. For example, the galloping ostinato played over the guitar solo in Metamorphisis keeps the track fully intact and rhythmic. It does this while using meticulously planned polyrhythmic harmonics to produce an interesting sound (almost a Billy Sheehan-like rumble) that brings out the hints of Tosin Abasi in lead guitarist Aydin Zahedi. Zahedi does an excellent job playing in firm rhythmic structure while still finding the time and space to shred through a couple of solos. The mid range on the guitar has way too much distortion considering the relatively clean high end, but that's more of a mixing error rather than an example of poor musicianship. Overall, the guitars are a technically impressive and musically interesting (which is a complimentary adjective considering that Burnt City is a prog band) addition to the Resurgence.

Moreover, singer Gus Monsanto ably admixes clean vocals with death-metal growls, oftentimes engaging in a hybrid of both. Though they can be too scratchy and off-putting (Wild Hunter, for instance, would be much better with a less bipolar approach), the vocals on Resurgence are perfectly adequate, despite being the weakest link.

These musicians work very well alongside Bob Katsionis, who is a rarity for power metal: He's a keyboardist. Katsionis doesn't play with much melody (he instead uses the borderline atonal, lead guitar-style approach of, say, Jordan Rudess), but that's not at all a detriment considering how well Kollias and LePond do their jobs. Katsionis' technique works particularly well on the title track, on which the intro is basically a mid-register, dubstep-esque keyboard solo played over a crunchy guitar riff and odd-meter drumbeat.

Resurgence is a good album. It's nowhere near perfect, but any metal fan–fans of power metal, in particular–ought to be excited for Burnt City's next release insofar as Resurgence is a prelude to things to come. 82/100.