Lascaille's Shroud - Interval 02: Parallel Infinities - The Abscinded Universe review
| Band: | Lascaille's Shroud |
| Album: | Interval 02: Parallel Infinities - The Abscinded Universe |
| Style: | Progressive death metal |
| Release date: | January 28, 2014 |
| A review by: | R Lewis |
Disc I
01. Integration: Into The Posthuman Continuum
02. Reborn: The Lamentation's Of A Dying Universe
03. Awakened: Not Even Remembered By The Dust Of Stars
04. Obscured: The Great Aphotic Barriers
05. Agony: The Sad And Beautiful Face Of Death
Disc II
01. War: A Congregation Of Non-Existence
02. Sorrow: The Conversation I Had With Death
03. Disenthralled: Into The Bulk
04. Transcience: A Moment For Our Eternity
05. The Guilt Reprisal
It's long, it's dark, it's tasty, aaaaand...
Not what you're thinking about, even if, in some moments, this album just feels like you're having sex with music.
Lascaille's Shroud is a one-man band playing progressive death metal that started to emerge last year with the excellent Interval 01: Parallel Infinities - The Inner Universe, and is now completing this process with the sequel, Interval 02: Parallel Infinities - The Inner Universe. The albums' storyline draws inpiration from Alastair Reynolds' book Revelation Space.
This album offers more than two hours of... almost everything. Despite the extreme/death prog sound dominating the scene, Interval 02 proudly displays tons of twists, surprises and unexpected features that ensure the listener's attention and entertainment throughout the whole album.
The vocals, for instance, range from scratchy death screams to portentous growls, finding some rest in the interludes provided by female vocals and power metal performances from those John Yelland and Tony Cordisco we already had the pleasure to listen to in Judicator, just to surprise again with a spacey, robotized voice.
All of this Babel of vocals is surrounded by an equally wide variation of music: while screaming guitars, with surprisingly effective riffing and technical solos (but not just meant to flaunt their creator's mastery), predictably take the lead, they are aided by classic orchestrations, clean piano sections and modern keys.
The whole album is pervaded with a spacey atmosphere, perfectly achieved also thanks to an apt production and to the incredible consistency of the whole. Every single track, in fact, has a unique soul, but is loyal to the artist's recognizable stamp. What's really astonishing about Interval 02 is, in fact, the nonchalance with which it switches from the extreme power ride that "Awakening" is, to the alienating melodies of "Agony", spiced with stellar guitarwork. It's mainly thanks to this feature that the 2+ hours running time becomes not a weight, but an added value.
Lascaille's Shroud belongs to a genre, that of progressive death, that too often considers complexity more important than it actually is. Conversely, this album grants immediate and catchy choruses, but this shouldn't make you think Interval 02 simplistic or trivial, since one of its biggest merits is to melt perfectly technique and plain ideas, songwriting elaborateness and straightforward heavy tracks.
Interval 02, being an important improvement from its already excellent predecessor, claims with clamor a place for its creator in the highest spots of the genre, and revitalizes the tradition of one-man bands.
So, what are you waiting for? Check this shit out.
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Written on 15.02.2014 by
Hopefully you won't agree with me, diversity of opinions is what makes metal so beautiful and varied. So... critics and advices absolutely welcome. |
Comments
Comments: 12
Visited by: 376 users
| LascaillesShroud Posts: 164  |
Thanks for the kind words! Although the story isn't actually based directly off of Revelation Space (it's an original story) I can't deny the huge amount of influence it had on the shaping of it. Regardless, your words are very much appreciated!
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| Zap Posts: 3583  |
Written by LascaillesShroud on 15.02.2014 at 16:38 Hah, I knew it. I mentioned this in this list-thread: http://www.metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=3019, but apparently they didn't believe me. On topic: I agree with just about everything this review said. This is an excellent album that puts a lot of one-man-bands to shame.
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| LascaillesShroud Posts: 164 |
Written by Zap on 15.02.2014 at 17:38 Thanks much! Some people thought the first album was an interpretation of Mass Effect because of the sound bytes I used (understandable), same thing almost happened with this album and Bioshock: Infinite (I like confusing people it seems). I only use them because they are thematically relevant, not to bring up a direct correlation or anything. I mean, if I wrote music to follow an Alastair Reynolds novel this album (Interval 02) would only be about half of one book 
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| Zap Posts: 3583 |
Written by LascaillesShroud on 15.02.2014 at 18:19 Haha, the Sovereign fragments in "Extinction" were the reason I gave Lascaille's Shroud a shot, so good job on that one but I knew it was just a reference and not an adaptation of the whole game.And I still have to read Revelation Space, even though I've had the book for over a month now. There's just too many books I want to read 
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| R Lewis Posts: 936  |
Written by LascaillesShroud on 15.02.2014 at 16:38 Edited 
---- We could be so much more than we are. Stop.
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| Hex_Omega Gem Seeker Posts: 1178 |
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5989  |
Totally dug the first album, and so far this is just as good (if not better) for me. Death metal often seems so stale to me these days, I love seeing projects like this that dare to push its boundaries. Excellent work!
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| DahliaRock Posts: 153  |
Ha! always wondered what it would be like if I ended up completing my one band project and then I see my review on metalstorm. no way talented as this guy right here tho! seriously, great job on the album, even though I get tired from the length and give up listening from time to time, the songs are sticky as hell and I keep ending up listening to them over and over!
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| LascaillesShroud Posts: 164 |
Written by DahliaRock on 19.02.2014 at 10:41 A challenge for myself was to make each song stand on it's own more so than the last album. The end result, I believe I achieved this, but it also caused me to write songs that were considerably longer Double-edged sword, as it were.
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| Zap Posts: 3583 |
Written by deadone on 20.02.2014 at 03:38 To be honest, this is one of the very few 2-hour albums that I can listen to from start to finish. Even Elysian Blaze's Blood Geometry, which I LOVED and consider one the best albums of 2012, gets me tired after disc 1. So I always listen to one disc and then something else, but not with this one. So yeah, try the whole thing 
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| DonMoenning Posts: 99  |
Written by LascaillesShroud on 15.02.2014 at 18:19 That quote from Elizabeth to Booker about being afraid of God, then the subsequent metal explosion... Gets me every time. Amazing album, man.
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| LascaillesShroud Posts: 164 |
Written by DonMoenning on 21.02.2014 at 17:55 Glad you enjoy it! That part is a highlight for me as well 
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