The Pitch: French underground progressive death metal legends Gorod are back with another impressively technical album via Overpowered Records. FFO: Gojira, Alkaloid, The Ritual Aura
What I Like: Gorod have a lot going on in their sound. It's like someone took the whole spectrum of progressive death metal bands and boiled them into one highly eclectic stew. One minute they're straight-up aggro like Vale Of Pnath, the next they're taking a more melodic angle a la Gojira. "Bekhten" in particular has undeniable parallels in sound and structure to their French brethren. Riffs jump all over the place with seemingly reckless abondon. It's a veritable smorgasbord of styles and influences resulting in an album that is highly ambitious in scope. Neoclassical noodling collides with thrash, tech, and even some elements of early Mastodon on opening track "Aethra"; all the while with Julien Deyres laying down commanding death growls.
Critiques: There are times when the band's comprehensive gets the better of them. Tracks like "Goddess" are all over the place so much so that they start to go off the rails. In these cases, I'm not hearing enough of a central, unifying anchor to glue all of the concepts and movements together.
The Verdict: Aethra is an excellent album that has a little something for everyone. Minus maybe black metal, almost every subgenre is on glorious display. And while there are some consistency issues, Gorod continue to cement their status as one of the most respected underground death metal acts in the scene.
Flight's Fav's: Aethra, Bekhten, Wolfsmond
- Review by FlightOfIcarus
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