Hidden Graphs

The wanderers of Belfast, these chaps here who tried quite a few things along the way, starting with the excellent technical/progressive classic thrash/death motifs on the “Transgression” demo, before seriously challenging both themselves and the audience with the scattered, heavily flawed modern metal conglomerate that was the full-length, a botched attempt at far-reaching complexity and stylistic assembly which didn’t quite show the musicians at their belfast… sorry, brightest.

This is their last creation so far, a 4-tracker clocking on 26-min, an assured, much more homogeneous progressive metal slab which deftly flirts with luminaries like Zero Hour, Fates Warning, and Tool. In other words, this is a new trajectory explored, a third one since the beginning, and we haven’t checked the debut demo and the single yet.

Anyway, this outing delivers alright, the delivery split into two even parts, instrumental compositions, two altogether; and two songs. The former part is the loftier one the guys really pulling it off on “Palindrome”, a wondrous anomalous shredder with angular jazzy riffs and weird stomping stopovers; an exercise in outlandish crooked musicality which will make proud anyone, from Spiral Architect to Canvas Solaris. “Zilt” is a dreamier spacier tractate, a steady psychedelic stroll with eccentric atonal accumulations recalling early Zero Hour, above all, but minus the darkness and the exuberant virtuoso guitarisms. The vocalized fraction comprises “Fractalise”, a jumpy semi-balladic foxtrot, the cool alternative clean mid-ranged vocals becoming a bit angrier with a sizeable synthesized blend at times. “Stochastic” is a total outtake from the later-period Tool repertoire, an alternative rock/metal amalgam which would have sounded better if it wasn’t for the overlong balladic overture.

An interesting albeit slightly incongruent recording, the two sides co-existing with a tad of caution, like they don’t trust each other, but at the same time hardly fighting for dominance. The instrumental portion is the superior one, with bigger musical prowess exhibited, with some genuinely awe-evoking moments; whereas the singer-guided one takes it easy from a complexity point-of-view, relying too much on the vocals to pull it through. The guy behind the mike is never a sloucher, but his melodic, sometimes plain romantic, croons fail to give an edge and verve to the psychedelic developments on the music front, merging with the mellow vistas in a submissive, somewhat anti-climactic fashion. Still, as a work of intricate, complex metal this outing delivers the goods to a fair extent, containing surprises for several walks of the prog-metal fandom, without unceremoniously violating the genre’s rules.

I don’t know what full-time jobs the guys have, but apparently they keep them very heavily occupied as no more graphs have been seen drawn from their camp… but those will come, not to worry. And they will resemble nothing from their previous feats; guaranteed. This has been a trip full of surprises so far, pleasant ones with a few exceptions, and lengthy intervals between them are kind of mandatory to alleviate the astonishment.