Core

When it comes to concept albums, one would immediately think of the old great prog bands such as Dream Theater or Symphony X. The idea of a well executed album that flows as one song and tells a story is probably every prog nerd's biggest fantasy! But for some reason not many have noticed Persefone's "Core" when it was released. I remain baffled by the fact that this band, after almost twenty years of activity and 5 full length releases that are all very different from each other and all pure prog genius in their own way, still has such a small following and can even be given the tag of an "underground" band. I never expected they'd become celebrities or anything but at least my fellow proggers could gather in greater numbers. Persefone have been setting the boundary for prog metal since their first release and it seems like they've always had something that stands out. I don't know if it's the mad playing skill or the compositions themselves that set them apart but something about their music just gets under my skin. And that also applies to the glorious 'concept album' idea.

Just making it a story that flows from beginning to end was done by many but these guys approached it a bit differently. "Core" consists of three over twenty minute long jaw-dropping epics that each presents the story from a different character's perspective. It is the Greek mythological legend of Core that transcends into Persephone after being kidnapped and held captive in the Underworld by Hades. The album has a very theatrical feel and a lot of diversity in composition that supports the story feeling.

The first song, "Sanctuary: light and grief" is written from the perspective of Demeter, Core's mother and is filled with the rage, despair and sadness of her trying to find her daughter came back to her. The second track titled "Underworld: The Fallen and the Butterfly" is the darkest and most evil sounding of the three, presenting the story as seen from Hades and the last one ,"Seed:Core and Persefone", bring's us Core's view and the change that appears inside her. It is probably the most melancholic and sad. Despite each song having its own general feel and idea, they are all very similar through compositional style and variations.

Persefone's instrumental style is a storm of technique and dizzying speed on all the musical instruments but is not limited to this and leaves plenty of room for emotion, not falling into the trap of making their albums all about the technique. As a result, there are many transitions between calm and energetic, slow and fast and the constantly changing and evolving rhythm, at times taking your mind to it's full capacity in trying to grasp everything that's going on while other times feeding you simple and enjoyable themes. They actually gave the characters their specific themes (The Light's theme, Father of Gods theme, Persephone's theme, and my personal favorite... Lord of the Underworld's theme). There are also a lot of reprises hitting you in the face when you least expect. So as the story unfolds, all the musical resources are exploited so we get the good old metal with heavy guitars, bass and drums but also a lot of clean guitars and gentle grooves and sometimes they go straight into classical music influences, especially with the grand piano and keyboard sections. It also gets epic when the strings and effects spice up the atmosphere creating a very massive and surrounding feeling that you can totally sink into (Lord of the Underworld's theme mentioned earlier). And above all that comes the old school prog vibe from the guitar and keyboard solos and duels that remind a lot of Symphony X's early releases. Actually, in many ways Core reminds me of the legendary Odyssey by Symphony X, only it's got the death metal factor too.

So that sums up heavy/death metal, classical music, ambient and epic influences and progressive metal coming together but somehow it doesn't feel like it's too much. And if you want to talk diversity wait till I give you this. The vocals consist of death growls and screams (the main vocals of the band) which in this one are maybe a bit to raspy and high pitched for my taste but not too much of a problem, and also male clean vocals, female clean vocals (quite enchanting) and spoken voice storytelling. You wanna get bored? Go ahead and try! With so many elements coming together from so many directions and creating some weird middle ground between them, an hour's gonna go before you know it. And if you're listening to the 2014 remastered version, it will be massive and crushing too!

To put so many different stuff over one story-line concept and take them all to the limit will result in an artistic and musical journey that nearly puts opera and theater to shame! It feels authentic and credible and all the emotions are so well expressed that you're seeing a movie playing in front of your eyes. The characters are given shape and personality only through the sounds and each scene brings all the emotional energy that it can! And after the long narrative monologue in the third song, the last scene, where the mother and daughter meet again, brings everything together. All the music, the intensity, the story and the emotions lead to the final line: "I'm your daughter, Persefone". In the most dramatic and epic moment of the story, the band speaks it's name and reminds you of who you have been listening to. With this album they have made themselves worthy of the legend and as the final piano melody echoes away, you see the curtain closing and slowly return to your real world. Where you like Star Wars!

If there was one thing the album was missing, it was a little joy so the remastered version comes with a really juicy Star Wars medley bonus track that snaps you out of the trance and gets your head banging good! Maybe a bit out of context but it's definitely better to have it than not to have it. Now go increase this band's crowd by one! They've got everything except a proper crowd and it's up to us to make that happen!

With a concept about the Greek goddess Persephone, the Andorran band Persefone deliver probably the musical equivalent of a Greek epic in form of a melodic and progressive death metal album named Core. It should be noted that this album is seventy minutes long and have only three songs. Listening to this album in one sitting the first time hearing it, is not recommended, despite that the music is interesting. But regardless of that, how can Core be described? Broad, one way or another, it should at least have something that appeal to most. That does not mean it is recommended for most. But enough of that. What is going on here?

The first thing you will hear is a piano, or keyboard more correctly. To be honest, there is not much to say about it. It adds some flavor to a lot of sections throughout the album, but could perhaps be left out without damaging the music overall too much. The piano parts however, are the only thing the keyboard should be doing, the rest feel a little tacky. The guitars pick the pace up, and creativity. These can go from chugging to spastic and alternating riffs, be fast or slow, and help color the music a lot, setting a specific landscape for everything else. The bass guitar is another thing that cannot be said so much about, once in a while, it can be heard, but for most of the time, it seems nonexistent. But when heard, it seem to follow the lead of the guitars. Nothing very impressive, but nothing too bad either. The drumming however is great. There is a lot of force behind them, and the general playing is nothing less than laced with rhythms, sometimes complex and sometimes just simple. But overall, they add a dynamic feel to the music that is vital. Finally are the vocals, that come in a variety of styles, from screaming, growling, roaring and just clean singing. In addition to these styles, are also the female vocals that drop by sometimes, and these are the most enjoyable as they break the monotony of the rawer male vocals.

With the mixing, things are overall very good. But the the biggest problem is the drowned bass guitar that can barely be heard in the middle of everything else. The production is fairly good, but can perhaps be a little too gritty for this type of music. As for the musical delivery, it comes in an array of emotions to set the mood, going from aggressive assaults to mournful funerals, along with more hopeful feels. The songwriting is quite good, with each song loaded with sections that demand your attention, whether being aggressive or slow, catchy or perhaps a little jazzy. And yes, that happens a couple of times, with some jazzy delivery, but these are spaced out far too uneven than say the more aggressive sections. There are however some places in between here that really lack anything noteworthy. And those, while they do not occur too often, are quite dragging.

But speaking of the length of the album again and the number of tracks, it is hard to imagine Core being a nine track album, but with so few tracks divided on such a length, it can become a little tedious and bothersome. So as mentioned, you should not listen to the whole album in one sitting. Give it time and be patient, and it will pay off.

Persefone have done a tremendous job with Core. It is through and through entertainment, though it does lack a little from time to time. But in the end, it does deliver a rather impressive narrative.

Stand-out tracks: The whole album.
8/10

Hailing from the tiny European nation of Andorra, this tourism hub would not be the first place someone would expect great progressive death metal to be born. Regardless, here is Persefone, an Andorran act that certain leaves no stone unturned when it comes to their musical vision and ambition. The second album of this band as well as my first introduction to the music of Persefone, 'Core' has proved to be an excellent find; a deep and complex journey of progressive extreme metal that screams 'epic' in every sense of the word. Suffice to say however, the album takes quite a few listens before one is able to truly appreciate the scope of it.

From the track listing alone, one can tell that this is not your typical death metal record. At three tracks each over twenty minutes in length, one can expect a foray into epic compositions with 'Core'. In terms of how well the band actually does this, I was pleasantly surprised. Often, I have been disappointed by bands that promise great things, and fail to deliver. While 'Core' may not have the perfection I would associate with a masterpiece, each track is wrought with incredible musical ideas. The band's sound is rooted in melodic death metal, at times sounding like a rawer version of Opeth. Throughout the course of one of these tracks, the listener is transported through a variety of different moods, each contributing to the mythical story the album seeks to tell.

Of particular surprise are the great female vocals here, which pop up several minutes into the album. Wonderfully harmonized, they provide an unexpected respite from the thrashy heaviness of the heavier segments. The death metal moments are done with almost as much success as the mellow parts however, although it does feel as if the rather lacking production of the album deters from what would otherwise have been a consistently stunning listen. Although the somewhat lo-fi studio work is typical of most underground metal and doesn't always hurt the product, the complexity of 'Core' doesn't lend well to being conveyed through anything less than clear production.

Another issue here is the fact that while Persefone makes good use of the track time for each song, each piece doesn't feel so much like a structured composition as it does a stream of great musical ideas, flowing one after the other. There are undoubtedly attempts to provide a sense of cohesion (especially in the first track, 'Sanctuary') but while all excellent pieces, they often feel scattered as compositions. The slight disorganization aside however, this does not stop 'Core' from being a consistently intriguing listen.

A fantastic piece of progressive death metal, and as much a grower as any other album you fill find in its genre; Persefone's 'Core' is an excellent concept album that begs not just a handful of listens, but a long lasting experience.

My first aim is to clear up any misunderstanding about the title of the album. The title of the album, Core, has nothing to do with core as is usually used in English (like in hardcore, grindcore etc). This Core is pronounced kore (the e is pronounced too). Core means daughter in Greek and in ancient times it was also used to mean the female statues and the virgin girls (maidens). It was also the other name of Persefone (or Persephone as it is correctly spelled, but that doesn't means much). Lyrically, this album deals with Persefone's abduction and her departure to the underworld. Now that we are clear with the theme of the music let's go to the musical aspect of the album (which was always the strong part of Persefone).

Musically, this album is an evolved version of Truth Inside The Shades. You'll ask (logically I'd say) how a unique album like Truth Inside The Shades can evolve even more. The answer is pretty simple. The songs are enriched with female vocals and even more depth. Truth Inside The Shades was not a lengthy album. Its duration was 43:40. While in Core only two songs (Underworld, Seed) have the length of 46:24 (only these two are longer for the previous album as you can understand).

So, the three new elements that are introduced in this one are the following: female vocals, more depth, longer songs.

Going into further analysis we find that Persefone's music is calmer and slower this time. The songs build up slowly (3 out of 4 songs surpass the 20 minute mark so why the hurry?). The music is much more restrained, especially in the softer parts.

The clean guitars of this album has a nice hispanic vibe influenced by famous Spanish guitarists like Emilio Pujol. The distorted guitars can be broken into two parts. The solo guitars which carry a bluesy vibe and the lead and rhythm guitars which play some very nice riffs and leads. The bass is prominent (especially in the last track, the only pure death metal song of the Cd). Piano and keyboards work nicely once again.

The vocals are split in four this time: Low-pitched growls, high-pithced screams, clean male singing and clean female singing. In all the songs the amount of exposure each singing technique gets is the same with the exception of the last track which is based on high-pitched screaming. My preference on the vocal departement are the male and female clean vocals. I find that they fit the atmosphere of the album more than the growls and trust me I am not usually fond of clean singing.

3 out of 4 songs as already mentioned are over 20 minutes tracks. These tracks are epic. You can clearly see that Persefone are heading towards more epic and progressive realms. The fourth song departs from this concept a little. Train Of Consequences is a short (only 3:47 minutes long) and catchy death metal song with a nice solo.

The highlight of this album is probably Seed. This song starts off amazingly and continues to amaze everyone with its sheer beauty.

So, overal I'd reccomend this album to anyone that likes metal in general. You can find elements of death, gothic, symphonic and progressive metal in this one. If you like metal it's very unlikely to dislike Persefone. Get it at any cost.

Highlights: Seed (Core & Persefone)