The Journey of a Man

Tragacanth is a Netherlands based combo describing their sound as symphonic black/death metal. After their first full length “Anthology of the East” in 2015 they hit back with “The Journey of a Man” released on the Loud Rage sub-label Pest Records. I've heard some bands of the past trying to introduce orchestrations into their black or death metal framework before and it seldom worked for me. Most of the time it's just symphonic neo classical metal.

Thankfully Tragacanth have chosen a slightly different path. They did not just record an extreme metal album with a lot of technical prowess and put a few orchestral samples on top. While the fast and furious tremolo lines are in full force and most of the time accompanied by heavy hitting blast-beats it feels as if the symphonic details have really been implemented as important factor of each song. Sometimes those elements are used more subtly creating an eerie and melancholic atmosphere in the background. At other places the instrumentation more or less stops and lets the string players and acoustic guitars take center stage.

What is the most important fact here is that Tragacanth are really clever songwriters. The sequences of the various sections have been chosen in a way to make each track feel diversified yet stringent at the same time. There are classic verse-chorus parts but also extended soloing sections. Oriental sounding samples are used as well as piano interludes or some female choirs. In the end each song has its own character and looking at the album as a whole one really gets the feeling of a story that is told through the music. As the arrangements can get pretty complex I would recommend to consume the album in a way to not get distracted by something else during the first spin.

The growling is on point underlining the aggressive nature of the music. While there is a lot going we are still talking about a metal record in the first place. While the instrumentation walks the line between symphonic black metal and a slightly technical version of death metal the vocals have more in common with the latter genre.

A record presenting so many different elements and layers needs a perfect production and I am glad to report that this is the case here. Some might argue that the sound is too modern but in my opinion this is exactly what is needed. Crunchy guitars are met by a massive drum sound giving the whole music a lot of punch without burying any of the used samples in the mix. Overall a very atmospheric and captivating musical trip.