Mechina - Acheron - guest review
Mechina - Acheron - guest review
Tracklist
01. Proprioception02. Earth-Born Axiom
03. Vanquisher
04. On The Wings Of Nefeli
05. The Halcyon Purge
06. Lethean Waves
07. Ode To The Forgotten Few
08. The Hyperion Threnody
09. Adrasteia
10. Invictus Daedalus
11. The Future Must Be Met
Guest review by
musclassia February 26, 2015
2013's Empyrean established the band's mix of low-end staccato guitar chugging, extravagant symphonic arrangements and both extreme and clean vocals, but with something of a lack of variety during its run-time, whereby the staccato riffing could at times become almost terminally repetitive, and also a somewhat muddy, unbalanced production. Xenon addressed these issues, with a clearer, more evenly-matched sound and greater diversity, driven by more prominent male cleans and boosted by brief appearances by female cleans, electronic sounds and glitches, and a broader non-metal instrument range. Some additions worked better than others - the piano worked well and "Zoticus's" electronic melody excited, but other instruments were less well implemented and the female cleans weren't fully developed. Now, Acheron further rectifies some of Xenon's problems, yet at the same time delivers new problems.
By a good 15 minutes, this is the longest album of the trio, and you can see why almost straightaway. An introductory mood-setter is followed by an 8-plus-minute track that introduces the metal and symphonics and demonstrates a solid sonic balance between the two, yet features nothing more than brief choral vocals and female cleans, effectively resulting in a 13-minute instrumental introduction before the meat-and-potatoes sound arrives. This ponderous tone, forgotten with the strong subsequent songs, becomes troublesome again when, less than halfway through, there are 6 tracks remaining, of which four are interlude or mood-setting pieces. This does act to offer up some variety in the album's sound, welcome given how one-note Empyrean and even Xenon were prone to being at times, but frankly acts as overkill, especially given that aside from the pleasant but protracted strings/piano female vocal-driven ballad "Ode To The Forgotten Few", these pieces offer very little in the way of substance. This overload of "non-song" music, although likely contributing to the band's storytelling, is to the album's detriment. The actual core musical content of the album does at least lift it up, despite a few flaws.
The biggest vocal shift here is the greater prominence of female vocals, both poppy ones on "Ode?" and also a greater and more successful presence of the ethereal, almost instrumental ones heard on past records, best utilised on "On The Wings Of Nefeli", a stellar song that rival's Xenon's title track as the band's best individual song to date. Concerning the other vocals, the clean robotic male vocals that have proven very divisive (but of which I'm rather fond) dominate "The Halcyon Purge", a very catchy electronic-sounding song that I highly enjoy; however, they are much less common through the rest of the album. I consider this a weakness; even though the vocal tone might not work for everyone, the vocal melodies offered much-needed phrasing and hooks to songs on past records that would've been beneficial on Acheron. As far as the music goes, the expected industrial guitars and bombastic symphonics are present in every way one might anticipate, and work well on most of the songs - however, I feel like, particularly on "Invictus Daedalus", there is a real tendency to rely on exaggerated string/orchestral accompaniments rather than effectively developing the metal side of their sound, something they could definitely work on in the future.
In summary, Acheron is neither a grand departure nor repeat outing for Mechina, and has both strengths and weaknesses compared to their previous year-openers. I would not consider it their best - the padding and relative similarity to past albums stops it truly shining. However, it is a decent enough introduction to the band for a novice and offers some of the group's best moments, even if diluted amongst filler.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 7 |
| Songwriting: | 7 |
| Originality: | 7 |
| Production: | 8 |
Written by musclassia | February 26, 2015
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
Comments
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Posts: 6941
Well-written review; it piqued my interested back when it was published but I'm just now having a chance to hear the album. I disagree that the first few songs feel like a glorified opener, although the very first track certainly is a pointless "mood" setter  I love Earth-Born Axiom and consider it a strong opener. The female vocals are one of the strongest elements here, as they decorate the solid foundation of industrial death metal and really tie in the symphonic elements. I don't find them poppy or reminiscent of current symphonic metal bands in the slightest; more that they're another instrument to support the rhythms, industrial elements, and excellent groove already present. Like two juxtaposing flavors in a delicious meal, it's best to have different yet complementary elements play off of each other.One area where we do agree is that they've eliminated the monotony of previous works! I've had minimal exposure to Mechina in the past but remember feeling bored after my initial excitement at their music. This album easy held my attention throughout and was quite satisfying. I'm going to say it: the crying moment on "Vanquisher" is really strange  You and I seem to have similarly varied tastes. Thanks for writing about this one! (Upon further listening I'll agree that the clean vocals on "Ode To The Forgotten Few" get a bit poppy, though from the awesome side of pop-related music )
---- "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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 Posts: 8707 |
Posts: 8707 Written by Susan on 28.03.2015 at 19:34 I think the problem I had with the opening was just how long it took for the lead vocals to come in - the instrumentation was by and large rather enjoyable, but on an album as meandering as this one it's a bit of an issue for that it takes that length of time to get into their 'typical song' sound. Thanks for the closing comment for reassuring me regarding 'Ode To The Forgotten Few' - the fem vox on the likes of 'On The Wings...' are great and not what I meant by poppy, but 'Ode...''s vocals certainly wouldn't sound out of place on a Top 40 pop/dance song in my opinion. Still they are pleasant vocals, and do quite nicely with the strings and such on that song, even if it is overly long for my money. As far as the other vocals go, they were what I was referring to with "[and] also a greater and more successful presence of the ethereal, almost instrumental ones heard on past records, best utilised on "On The Wings Of Nefeli"". Their use on Acheron and Xenon is one of the more interesting aspects of their sound. Yeah, the other two albums sound really good, but aside from a few individual songs such as Xenon, Zoticus and Elephtheria, they can become rather monotonous, and certainly offer more entertainment in short bursts rather than in whole listens. This album does offer more variety in the actual songs, and the interludes do also theoretically add other opportunities to avoid repetition, it's just their overuse here, particularly towards the end, that I have a problem with. I don't actually remember the crying moment on Vanquisher! I'm not going to lie, from this album, the only ones that get regular listens are 'On The Wings...' and 'Halcyon Purge'. Thanks for the comments!
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Posts: 179  |
Posts: 179 Written by Susan on 28.03.2015 at 19:34 Totes. I had an eargasm the first time I heard it.
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