Catacombs and Oceans

Lago’s new single is exactly what progression in a band sounds like. Moving on from their heavy Morbid Angel and Emperor influenced debut album, they have added touches of progressive metal and just odd things in general. This can be somewhat credited to their new guitarist, Gus Barr, whose previous band was progressive thrash and Cole's desire to expand his musical horizons.

Now, the song itself is absolutely awesome. The opening tremolo picking combined with the blast beats are super tight and punching. Combining that with Cole’s deep, demonic sounding growls and you have a recipe for success. All the little chords and different guitar parts going in the background are interesting and super fun to try and figure what is being played. It adds that dark, mysterious aspect to the band, which I like. Furthermore, the riff in the middle of the song is just crushing. It is super heavy and original and brings the listener back in from the crazy beginning. The thing I like most about this riff is the fact that while it is heavy and simple, it sounds like nothing I have ever heard before. The second half of the song after the mid-break is just weird and really cool. The riffs before the solo are screwy, interesting and a welcome sound to modern death metal. The solo itself is great. Gus does a wonderful job playing clean, being precise, sounding cool and not being overly technical. The sweeps are done very well and the bends fit every time. The solo makes sense in the song and is placed beautifully at the end of the track. The ending verse and riff are also done very well. With one guitar playing chords and the other pounding away, it provides a great combination.

Overall, this song is perfect in my eyes. Everything fits in place and the song is unique. I really look forward to seeing what the band does next with their second full-length.