Homunculus

Progressive metal could perhaps be best analogized as a stew of varying numbers of ingredients, depending on how versatile the musicians in the fold are and how eccentric the composer of the works tends to be. Sometimes there’s simply a heavier extension of the existing template within progressive rock via the 1970s work of bands like Rush and Yes, at others there is an endless stream of possibilities between the bounds of extreme metal and a number of lighter, metal or non-metal elements. The Destrudo approach essentially takes a number of influences from the 70s Rush style and merges it with the Cynic approach of merging lighter ideas with death metal, with occasional inferences into doom and thrash as well. It can get a little bit confusing in theory, but the practical outworking of it on “Homunculus” is actually fairly easy to follow.

The good thing about this band’s take on the Cynic side of things is that they don’t go for that quirky electronic/industrial sound in either the vocal work, or with overactive keyboards and synthetic sounds. The dichotomy between progressive rock and death metal is thus accomplished wholly with traditional instruments, consisting of smooth guitar ballad sections with some occasional references to jazz music, contrasted with a set of heavily distorted thrash/groove riffs that carry the aggression of Pantera, but the polish of Outworld. The counterpoint of clean, high sung tenor vocals with a really nasty death growl that is pretty close to David Vincent circa “Covenant” is also a nice touch, and works well to further exaggerate the gulf between the ballad sections and the heavier ones.

As a whole, this is a fairly consistent listen, though there are some individual quirks within each song. The most auspicious progressive anomaly on here is found on “Psychotropy Pt. 2”, which spends most of its time in a low key ballad demeanor, before launching into a deep, sludgy, doom riff that stands somewhere between “Into The Void” and “God Of Emptiness”. The only thing holding this back is that the song structures tend to be a little bit meandering, lacking the clear point of resolution that usually defines a memorable work. This band has a fair amount of potential, but it’s not really in the same league as To-Mera or Assignment.