Darkology - Altered Reflections - review
Darkology - Altered Reflections - review
Tracklist
01. Microcozm02. Violent Vertigo
03. I Bleed
04. Dark Energy
05. Nobot
06. Eyes Of Argus
07. Aura Of Xhad
08. Alone
09. Revitalize
10. Trance Of The Gorgons
A review by
Doc G. December 19, 2009
So what does all this have to do with the idea of bringing in new elements? Well, the skeleton of Darkology's music is a pretty straight-forward form of metal we've all seen before, but the progressive element in the music really plays as a wild card - occasionally it's a downfall of the album, and other times it really makes this album what it is.
The good side is the more tranquil, softer sections drenched in beautiful guitar melodies. When listening to aggressive, hard-edged heavy metal, having some more peaceful interludes does a great job at giving the heavier sections a little more power through contrast. The bad side? Everyone is familiar with the strange time signatures thrown into a lot of metal these days - the stops and switches that bring the entire song to a brief halt before changing direction; those are the down side. Once again, it's also in contrast with the more straight-forward base of the music that makes this a bad thing; one minute you'll be rocking out, head banging and shredding on your air-guitar, when all of a sudden one of these switches will pop out of nowhere, throwing off the groove.
Overall this is a great little album, and will probably be more appreciated by those who enjoy dashes of prog in their metal. On the other hand, Altered Reflections has enough aggression and great hooks for the more straight-forward metalheads among us.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 10 |
| Songwriting: | 8 |
| Originality: | 7 |
| Production: | 8 |
Comments
Comments:
5
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| Valaskjalf
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| JohnDoe
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Posts: 293
Checked it out due to this review. I personally love it! The progressive parts don't throw me off, but keep me interested. I'm just one of those guys, hehe. Top notch. Glad to discover them. Thanks Doc.
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Posts: 6941
Well shit. Definitely checking this out. Straight-forward metal but with progressive elements, aggressive and hard-edged yet sometimes "drenched in beautiful guitar melodies." You said all the magic words. And Kelly fucking Carpenter surfaces again. Well hot damn  What took me so long to see this?
---- "A life all mine Is what I choose At the end of my days" --The Gathering "A Life All Mine" from Souvenirs
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