Just when I thought they couldn't get any better. Near perfect mixture of classical music and metal.

You can guess, from the album cover and the band photo, that these guys are about to unload a truckload of wankery. And that's pretty much what they do once you hit play as well. Great and talented musicians, and yet such terrible songwriters. This album is overproduced, and I'm not a fan of the vocalist(s) either. The Death and Black Metal growls sound disingenuous, and the clean vocals are just plain annoying. The switch between clean and dirty vocals didn't have me comparing Ne Obliviscaris to Opeth and Mikael Åkerfeldt, as so many reviewers have done, but rather to so many second-rate Metalcore vocal performances that I've heard over the past decade.

After listening to the song Pyrrhic, I get the impression that someone programmed a robot or computer to come up with an interpretation of a Metal song, and this is what an unfeeling mechanism was able to produce; perfect in some ways, and yet lacking a human quality. The only thing notable about this song is the violin, and even that is somehow ruined by the use of an electronic effect that robs the instrument, and the performance, of feeling. When I think about another band I've been listening to lately that also uses violins, SubRosa, the contrast in the feeling is quite striking. While a band like SubRosa can't match the technical performance of a band like Ne Obliviscaris, their music does contain an abundance of feeling that I find ultimately more satisfying as a listener. There's nothing wrong with technical proficiency, but Ne Obliviscaris appears to rely too heavily on this aspect for their sound. I just don't think they've hit the right balance with their songwriting or their production, but I know that many people will disagree.

Someone give this a 3. It hasn't got one yet.

Written by Urban Cyclist on 02.12.2014 at 04:17

The only thing notable about this song is the violin, and even that is somehow ruined by the use of an electronic effect that robs the instrument, and the performance, of feeling.

Since you felt the need to copy-paste the comment from another site, I take some time to reply. Yeah, it's likely an electric violin, but I'm not sure there's actually any other effects involved. Charles has said the electric guitar influences his playing, and I think I'm hearing actual string bending now and then during "Pyrrhic".

I'm pretty sure this is due to this band/album being hyped a lot but I am seriously pondering over some of the comments. Maybe this album is overproduced and full of wankery, maybe it is not, but this is still much much better prog than any of the Dream Theater or Ayreon-type bull that no-one seems to mind.
At least this album has songs, rather than jam sessions.

Have listened a couple of times on it, it is good, but I feel somewhat that Portal Of I is the better album. I don't know for sure yet.. It's very different, and the long song seems to be a little too long for it's own good; could have been chopped down as different songs I think.. BUT, I haven't listened excessively on it yet, it's just my first impression.

Question: 104 votes 10. ¿?
Is possible that the people (or company) creates accounts for promote the band?. I am in MS barely three weeks, don't know... is very strange.
I listened the album and I understand nothing.

Written by SergioBv on 03.12.2014 at 12:42

Question: 104 votes 10. ¿?
Is possible that the people (or company) creates accounts for promote the band?. I am in MS barely three weeks, don't know... is very strange.
I listened the album and I understand nothing.

Welcome, and don't worry, I've been on MS for nearly a decade and I still don't understand the users' propensity to give tens as soon as something they like a little turns the corner. But there are vote abusers, troll and fake accounts indeed. Unfortunately there isn't much time to check each vote, and in the end, most of time, those "fake" votes are still very marginal. But feel free to send a PM to a staffer or leave a shout on the shoutbox if you find a clear case of vote abuse (dozens of only 10s/1s, multiple accounts all created on the same day with a single 10/10 vote on one album, etc).

Edit: I just found a string of shell accounts all created on the 27th of October who gave the same 10 votes to the same albums and have last been seen online on the same day. Thanks .

Written by Ilham on 03.12.2014 at 12:58

Written by SergioBv on 03.12.2014 at 12:42

Question: 104 votes 10. ¿?
Is possible that the people (or company) creates accounts for promote the band?. I am in MS barely three weeks, don't know... is very strange.
I listened the album and I understand nothing.

Welcome, and don't worry, I've been on MS for nearly a decade and I still don't understand the users' propensity to give tens as soon as something they like a little turns the corner. But there are vote abusers, troll and fake accounts indeed. Unfortunately there isn't much time to check each vote, and in the end, most of time, those "fake" votes are still very marginal. But feel free to send a PM to a staffer or leave a shout on the shoutbox if you find a clear case of vote abuse (dozens of only 10s/1s, multiple accounts all created on the same day with a single 10/10 vote on one album, etc).

Edit: I just found a string of shell accounts all created on the 27th of October who gave the same 10 votes to the same albums and have last been seen online on the same day. Thanks .

Ok Ilham, thnaks for the reply.
Maybe, the newly registered users shouldnt vote to spend a period time. Anyway, it's a shame and very obvious fraud.

Written by SergioBv on 03.12.2014 at 13:59

Ok Ilham, thnaks for the reply.
Maybe, the newly registered users shouldnt vote to spend a period time. Anyway, it's a shame and very obvious fraud.

I don't really know if that would be the key, but I'm sure staff would appreciate the suggestion of any solution concerning this. Thank you for pointing out the problem.

Wonder how much further it will fall in score once done nuking multis. 17 users with the same IP address, all scoring this (and a couple other albums) a perfect 10.

needless to say votes nuked. accounts banned. IP banned.

Pretty good. I appreciate the "short" duration of the album and that they don't meander needlessly as much as they did on their previous effort, but that doesn't get this one any extra points in comparison, really.

Whilst I didn't find this as impressive as the band's excellent debut album, I still think it's a sound progression in both sound and songwriting. The violin parts for me seem a little more focused and therefore the transition from more brutal, extreme musicianship to lighter sounds feels mostly natural. I didn't really see why it was necessary for the shorter songs (i.e., "Wyrmholes" and "Reveries from the Stained Glass Womb", but I did quite like the closing interlude) to be on the album, all they did was remind me of how great the longer tracks were. That said, it's one step closer for Ne Obliviscaris attaining a more promising future than ever before, and on this evidence they deserve it.

Written by SergioBv on 03.12.2014 at 13:59

Maybe, the newly registered users shouldn't vote to spend a period time. Anyway, it's a shame and very obvious fraud.

Yeah I think there should be some kind of restriction on that way too.
The time gap after joining the site is an idea, but you know.. If the person really wanted he could create various profiles on the same day and never log in and when the time was due, he would then spam votes as he pleased...
By the other hand you could try number of posts or community points. I don't think vote spammers would bother getting points or post counts just to spam votes, but on the other hand there are users who don't like to post or contribute but have a reasonable vote habit, so I don't know...

Why would you give this album a "1"? WHY?

Written by Karlabos on 04.12.2014 at 01:29

Written by SergioBv on 03.12.2014 at 13:59

Maybe, the newly registered users shouldn't vote to spend a period time. Anyway, it's a shame and very obvious fraud.

Yeah I think there should be some kind of restriction on that way too.
The time gap after joining the site is an idea, but you know.. If the person really wanted he could create various profiles on the same day and never log in and when the time was due, he would then spam votes as he pleased...
By the other hand you could try number of posts or community points. I don't think vote spammers would bother getting points or post counts just to spam votes, but on the other hand there are users who don't like to post or contribute but have a reasonable vote habit, so I don't know...

Yes i know, is hard to find the right key...

Written by BloodJuNkie on 04.12.2014 at 12:39

I think if only those who have been here for more than year can vote that would help, it won't solve the whole problem though...

Since this album has unearthed a massive vote abuse problem, maybe we could all go discuss it here : http://www.metalstorm.net/forum/topic.php?topic_id=52949
It would be nice if the discussion really brought new ideas etc, but I don't think the NO thread is the place for it .

Written by BloodJuNkie on 04.12.2014 at 11:21

Why would you give this album a "1"? WHY?

I don't understand the 1s either.

However, the reason for that is that the rating scale should be considered as seriously and with as much objectivity, that very, very few albums worth an 1 OR a 10. I will admit I only gave glancing listens to this album so far, but listened to Portal of I many times, and I can tell you, if this is any REMOTELY similiar in quality to PoI, then this definitely has enough merits, even objectively (as much analysing music can be objective) not to give it an 1, but it is not 10-worthy either, imo.

Written by musicalkaratekid on 03.12.2014 at 23:10

I didn't really see why it was necessary for the shorter songs (i.e., "Wyrmholes" and "Reveries from the Stained Glass Womb", but I did quite like the closing interlude) to be on the album, all they did was remind me of how great the longer tracks were.

The mood of Reveries... takes me back to the last verse of Cynosure (hence the lyrical reference), even if the chord progression wasn't exactly the same. Wyrmholes and Contortions share a musical idea, which is pretty fitting in that Citadel is a concept album.

Written by Uldreth on 04.12.2014 at 15:55

Written by BloodJuNkie on 04.12.2014 at 11:21

Why would you give this album a "1"? WHY?

I don't understand the 1s either.

However, the reason for that is that the rating scale should be considered as seriously and with as much objectivity, that very, very few albums worth an 1 OR a 10. I will admit I only gave glancing listens to this album so far, but listened to Portal of I many times, and I can tell you, if this is any REMOTELY similiar in quality to PoI, then this definitely has enough merits, even objectively (as much analysing music can be objective) not to give it an 1, but it is not 10-worthy either, imo.

Yeah i know what you mean. Of course it doesn't deserve 10 but if people give it 1 then giving it 10 is fair. My true rating is 9 but i expected voting abuse while i was voting!

Written by BloodJuNkie on 05.12.2014 at 01:57

Yeah i know what you mean. Of course it doesn't deserve 10 but if people give it 1 then giving it 10 is fair. My true rating is 9 but i expected voting abuse while i was voting!

Changing your own vote to counterbalance someone else's vote is also vote abuse. It's the exact definition of it.

Reminds me of those people on Metacritic that pro-actively rate, and admit, that they review in a particular way to counteract particular people.

Written by Urban Cyclist on 02.12.2014 at 04:17

You can guess, from the album cover and the band photo, that these guys are about to unload a truckload of wankery. And that's pretty much what they do once you hit play as well. Great and talented musicians, and yet such terrible songwriters. This album is overproduced, and I'm not a fan of the vocalist(s) either. The Death and Black Metal growls sound disingenuous, and the clean vocals are just plain annoying. The switch between clean and dirty vocals didn't have me comparing Ne Obliviscaris to Opeth and Mikael Åkerfeldt, as so many reviewers have done, but rather to so many second-rate Metalcore vocal performances that I've heard over the past decade.
After listening to the song Pyrrhic, I get the impression that someone programmed a robot or computer to come up with an interpretation of a Metal song, and this is what an unfeeling mechanism was able to produce; perfect in some ways, and yet lacking a human quality. The only thing notable about this song is the violin, and even that is somehow ruined by the use of an electronic effect that robs the instrument, and the performance, of feeling. When I think about another band I've been listening to lately that also uses violins, SubRosa, the contrast in the feeling is quite striking. While a band like SubRosa can't match the technical performance of a band like Ne Obliviscaris, their music does contain an abundance of feeling that I find ultimately more satisfying as a listener. There's nothing wrong with technical proficiency, but Ne Obliviscaris appears to rely too heavily on this aspect for their sound. I just don't think they've hit the right balance with their songwriting or their production, but I know that many people will disagree.

After two seconds of cut/paste google searching I found your comment's real author (unless you are the same user as the one from AngryMetalGuy.com) over here. Sorry for the personal attack, I just find it bewildering that you would blatantly plagiarize (unless you're the same user) someones comment? I mean, if this isn't your comment, why wouldn't you just say "oh, I read this great comment that I agree with", and then link/quote it? Despite the apparent attack, I actually agree partially with "your" comment, although I don't despise it quite as much. Sorry again if you're the commenter from the other site.

Written by Guest on 27.11.2014 at 17:46

It's up there with the likes of Sabaton.

Well, you just made me never wanna see these guys live.

Written by Zap on 05.12.2014 at 13:07

Written by Guest on 27.11.2014 at 17:46

It's up there with the likes of Sabaton.

Well, you just made me never wanna see these guys live.

Noooooooooooooooooooo, someone mentioned Sabaton live. I was just getting over the trauma of having had to endure them live for 1.5 hours last year at Eindhoven Metal Meeting. They put on an okayish to quite good show with a lot of interaction for fans of European Flowery Metal. But pay attention to the word 'show' Musically it is as shoddy as can be, vocalist who sounds terrible live, untight playing by the guitarists, quite a lot of playbacking, keyboards from tape.

Ne Obliviscaris are a very tight live band. Comparing them to Sabaton shows poor taste anyway

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 05.12.2014 at 14:31

Noooooooooooooooooooo, someone mentioned Sabaton live. I was just getting over the trauma of having had to endure them live for 1.5 hours last year at Eindhoven Metal Meeting. They put on an okayish to quite good show with a lot of interaction for fans of European Flowery Metal. But pay attention to the word 'show' Musically it is as shoddy as can be, vocalist who sounds terrible live, untight playing by the guitarists, quite a lot of playbacking, keyboards from tape.

Haha, I've been there too man. It was rough. I think it was also 1.5 hours. They definitely put up a good "show" but the music was not only painfully generic, but also performed pretty sloppily.

Devour Me, Colossus Part I is an amazing work of art. If the rest of the album were of that caliber this would get a perfect 10 from me. That's not to say the rest is bad, however, and is still excellent.

There are parts where there are two or three "dirty" vocals occurring. Is that just Xen's voice layered or are other members contributing vocals then?

Albums pretty cool. Probably listen to it a couple of times and move on though. Nothing I'll be spinning for years to come.