Band:	Against Myself
Album:	Tides Of Insanity
Style:	Symphonic metal
Release date:	April 21, 2023
Guest review by:	24emd

01. The Gathering
02. Providence
03. Beyond The Deep
04. A Fatefull Illusion
05. The Tempest
06. Huntress Of Assyria
07. Sweet Chants Of Death
08. Threnody
09. Tides Of Insanity
    1 - I - Cursed Lullaby
    2 - II - The Captain's Waltz
    3 - III - Worlds Collide
    4 - IV - Bound to Surrender
    5 - V - Mainland

Against Myself is a symphonic metal band from Spain, formed in 2009. At the time of writing, they have released four studio albums, along with the odd single and their debut EP. The first two of said studio albums have been essentially unremarkable symphonic metal with slightly proggy influences. Their third studio album, Unity, is what I consider quite frankly one of the best symphonic metal albums ever. Now, four years later, guitarist Charly Carretón has now taken over full drum duties, while many new members have taken over the other instruments, most notably new vocalist, Elizabeth Amoedo.

Now that I’ve given you some background information, I can now pinpoint whether or not you will enjoy this album. This is a symphonic metal album; if you don’t enjoy an over-the-top bombastic and melodic sound and female vocals, then most likely you should skip this one. But, on the other hand, if you enjoy well-written and well-produced symphonic arrangements, heavy and melodic riffs, and occasional keyboard leads, then perhaps this album is worth a shot.

First, let’s address the elephant in the room. To some, Against Myself will sound like a Nightwish clone. Most likely, it will sound like middle-era Nightwish with similar vocals to Tarja’s style. But above surface level, it is more than that. The riffs are tremendous, and the production gives the guitars an excellent punch and heaviness that contributes to the overall enjoyability of the album. Another thing that will make many readers roll their eyes is that the band is partly reminiscent of Dream Theater. Yes, I said it. The drop A-tuned techy guitar riffs coupled with soaring keyboard leads make it an easy comparison.

The album opens with an instrumental track, “The Gathering”, which by my ears should be included in the next track (the same occurs with tracks 4 and 5 – both short instrumentals lead into their next tracks, so there is no reason why they shouldn’t be connected). The album hits its stride with “Beyond The Deep”, which begins with triplet-riddled driving rhythm, before introducing its main theme (one that is echoed on the closer – more on that later). “Beyond The Deep” is perhaps the best representation of the album as a whole, being a sample of everything Against Myself do exceptionally well. “Huntress Of Assyria” is another instrumental track, and while being longer than the preludes, it still falls below four minutes, making it easily digestible in comparison to other prog metal acts’ instrumentals. Blastbeats make a brief appearance on “The Tempest”, after an atmospheric interlude almost perfectly suited to the album cover.

“Sweet Chants Of Death” is a left turn from triumphant territory into a mysterious tone reminiscent of “Kill To Live” from Against Myself‘s previous studio offering, Unity. “Sweet Chants Of Death” also includes an excellent orchestral break, taking inspiration straight from the baroque era. “Threnody”, the album’s ballad, is immediately the weakest song, taking forever to launch into an epic and climactic guitar solo. The 20-minute epic title track is essentially a huge summary of the album so far, and what Against Myself stand for from a musical perspective. It remains delightfully engaging throughout its entire runtime, and closes off with an excellent callback to the main theme of “Beyond The Deep”. One moment of the title track that especially impressed me occurs right after a huge tension release about halfway through. The song is stripped back into a cacophonic break, giving the feeling of a huge storm at sea, before leading into a very dark and chaotic orchestral motif, a branch of symphonic metal which takes inspiration from possibly Stravinsky’s The Rite Of Spring, one of my favourite scores of modernist music.

Production-wise, the album is perfect. So where does this album stumble? It suffers by slight lacking in structural identity – most songs include many good moments, but overall can bleed into each other. The largest criticism I can pull on this album is perhaps its tendency to sound like a fusion of a few really good bands, rather than a relatively new band with its own identity. Previous album Unity managed to avoid this pitfall very well, which makes it clear this band can keep growing and evolving in the future.

Overall, if you are looking for some of the best symphonic metal of the year, with top-notch production, riffs, arrangements and songwriting, then this album is worth a short. For one last point, the music complements the album cover so well; it's nearly a perfect image for the storm of proggy symphonic metal ahead of you.