Somewhere in Time

A new solo post-BM act formed in Russia in 2021, Que Metal released a demo and then two EPs in 2022; "Somewhere in Time" was the second of these EPs. Judging from the disheartening artwork for the EP cover and the track titles, I assume Que Metal's lyrical themes are on the depressive side. The music itself certainly seems to be so: the guitar tones are as painfully raw as can be, the vocals are angry and raspy, the pace is medium-slow, and the overall mood is dark and dejected. Opener "In the Abyss" – gosh, we're down there already – sets the standard for the rest of the EP to follow with a minimal melodic style that highlights noisy buzzy churning guitar riffs and harsh throaty vocals. The percussion is fairly ordinary, sticking to its time-keeping role for the most part. While the song is well composed and the riffs can be heard clearly in spite of their raw and rough tone, there is not much here in the vocals, guitars and drums that stamps Que Metal's style with any individuality, with even the melodies, catchy though they can be, sounding rather generic.

I'm hoping second track "Liquid of Life" might offer something out of the ordinary and perhaps crack if not break the mould. Apart from a sudden roar of noisy guitar storm following a quiet ambient / melodic instrumental intro, there aren't many cracks unfortunately. At least the song is consistent over its running time (nearly 11 minutes) and there are thrilling, heartfelt riffs to be found, even if they sound very familiar. There is plenty of drama, the singing is emotional, the pace quickens near the end and the last few moments are very chaotic and impassioned, so the time spent with this song turns out to be worthwhile if you're not looking for something original.

The title track also opens fairly quietly, though if you turn up the volume it's actually very busy and industrial in style and rhythm – an aspect the Que Metal musician should make more of, on future recordings. There's energy and a mixed bag of emotions from anger to sorrow and maybe also confusion in the doomy melodies and the clouds of noisy guitar. The croaky voices sound even more inhuman and despairing, and about halfway through clean electric guitar starts playing in parallel with its churning granite tremolo six-stringed sibling. For a few moments real heartfelt and agonised passion appear but they disappear quickly as the song plods relentlessly into the distance.

While there are good moments on this short EP, and the song writing is quite good, the whole recording does come across as very workman-like. It needs an extra spark of originality in its style and in some of its riffs to lift Que Metal above a hundred thousand other post-BM acts around the planet. The guitar tones and the singing are not bad, and the mix of instruments in the third track along with the harsher, scratchier vocals suggest the project's style is still evolving in a melodic raw BM / post-BM fusion direction (I hope). Perhaps all that Que Metal needs is more time to refine and develop a more distinctive style of raw post-BM.