Ne Obliviscaris - Citadel - review
Ne Obliviscaris - Citadel - review
Tracklist
01. Painters Of The Tempest (Part I): Wyrmholes02. Painters Of The Tempest (Part II): Triptych Lux
1 - Movement I: Creator
2 - Movement II: Cynosure
3 - Movement III: Curator
03. Painters Of The Tempest (Part III): Reveries From The Stained Glass Womb
04. Pyrrhic
05. Devour Me, Colossus (Part I): Blackholes
06. Devour Me, Colossus (Part II): Contortions
A review by
Mattybu January 13, 2015
What are some of the things on that checklist? You've got your combination of growled vocals and lighter ones, which we've seen the likes of Opeth and many others successfully employ. There are frantic passages driven by thundering double bass and softer, more atmospheric moments. Slick melodies abound in the guitar work, and there are hugely ambitious and lengthy tracks. It's all there.
The thing about Citadel is that it isn't just all there, it's all there for a reason. This is songwriting taken to the next level. Every time there needs to be a softer moment it comes, and every time there needs to be a burst of aggression to release a building of tension, it comes too. In addition (and this is important), despite the obvious massive amounts of instrumental talent of the musicians, there is no shying away from using simpler riffs and chord progressions as building blocks to move a song forward. A perfect example of this is the later end of "Devour Me, Colossus (Part I)", where a lone bass line slowly builds into a steady chug/triplet pattern of a single note on guitar, which then further evolves melodically, and is built upon further when the drums return. The little things like this complete the songs, and bring everything together beautifully.
I try and find some criticism of any album when reviewing. It's tough for this one. The clean vocals weren't always amazing. A few people will probably find the violins a bit out of place, but personally I felt they strengthened the atmosphere. A lot of that will come down to taste.
Citadel was an album I really didn't find boring at all. Song for song, it's put together masterfully and is a great example of how it's often better to create a shorter, focused, and wholly structured album than have 15 songs for the sake of having lots of songs where only 3 or 4 are really good. And importantly, as mentioned above, it's got all the items on the progressive checklist not just for the sake of being called progressive, but because when you do those things right, you can make some great music.
Written by Mattybu | January 13, 2015
Comments
Comments:
18
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Great review! I'll focus on the simpler riff bulid-ups you mentioned the next time I listen to this.
---- World won't end today - it's already tomorrow in Australia.
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Am I the only one who thinks Citadel is a letdown following the masterpiece that was Portal of I? Oh well... 2014 was a bad year for metal (or for me...) indeed...
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Posts: 2589 Written by boo-boo on 14.01.2015 at 12:26 Simple chord progressions too... I don't know what it is about this album, all the melodies seem to fall into place so well whether they are detailed or not. Written by X-FrEaK on 14.01.2015 at 13:12 I haven't heard Portal of I, but regardless I try and look at any album as a singular thing. I should definitely listen to that one, though.
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Posts: 2589 Written by Sturmulus on 15.01.2015 at 05:21 Thanks a bunch man. Very good first experience with the band for me.
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Posts: 307 Written by Mattybu on 14.01.2015 at 17:15 And Plague Flowers the Kaleidoscope. Listen to that and be amazed by one of the best songs I have ever heard!
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Posts: 92 Written by X-FrEaK on 16.01.2015 at 14:03 Precisely, it's also my very favourite song, I can listen to it a few times in a row (which is absolutely unusual for me) without getting even the slightest boredom. Citadel, despite being masterfully written, performed and produced, is still not the most appealing to me. I will just stick to PoI.
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A fine review. You outlined most of the objectively "talented" traits the band has, which people seem to misunderstand when they argue against the hype.
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Posts: 2589 Written by Stunning Cactus on 02.03.2015 at 11:53 Thanks. Was also easy for me to just take the album at face value cause I wasn't really "hyped" about it and hadn't heard the first album by them before it.
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Posts: 328 Written by Mattybu on 04.03.2015 at 20:48 The best sort of review is the unbiased one 
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Posts: 7695 Written by X-FrEaK on 14.01.2015 at 13:12 I agree. "Portal of I" was a masterpiece and my expectations for "Citadel" was huge. But that album was just average to me. To me it feels forced. I don't think everything's there for a reason (as said in the review). To me it actually feels like they've written a minute of music, asked each other what the hell they could put in next, wrote another minute of music and so on without much thought behind it.
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Portal Of I and Citadel are both unbelievable top-shelf albums. Some like one better than the other, that's cool. These guys just blow away most other bands in the extreme arena in terms of chops, but most importantly in terms of songwriting. CANNOT WAIT to hear their third full-length when it drops. (I understand they have begun the early stages of developing their next album.)
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