Band:	Gorod
Album:	Leading Vision
Style:	Technical death metal
Release date:	2006

01. Here Die Your Gods
02. Thirst For Power
03. Blackout
04. Chronicles From The Stone Age
05. Life Controller
06. Edaenia 2312
07. State Of Secret
08. Eternal Messiah
09. Obsequium Minaris
10. Hidden Genocide

It is my honor to review this album, my friends. Leading Vision is a record to align with as far as technical death metal is concerned and is the best example of Gorod's relaxed approach to songwriting.

The naturally flowing melodies are the main strength of this album. There is nothing forced about Leading Vision unlike its successor, which often suffers from too many notes and too little structure. On this record there are many mid-paced songs, which is one of the main reasons why the album overall is so enjoyable: the musicians just seem to be jamming and having fun themselves no matter how complex things sometimes get. Here the French masters craftily combine brutal riffage and blast beat drumming with progressive structures and melodic leads and solos, which, with their beauty, can be compared to those of Death. With Gorod, this is actually an entirely separate topic because those countless leads and solos are something you will never hear anywhere else. I like to refer to them as "avantgarde" because of their uniqueness and jazzy feel ‒ I have always thought that the band members being French has something to do with that.

The bass plays an important role in making Leading Vision so great by adding to the groove created by the riffs and the drumming. The latter is simply commendable for its versatility and ability to properly (and appropriately) accompany the guitar parts. Hats off to Sandrine for that. The vocals are not the strongest part of the album, but they do show some variety incorporating standard (not deep) growling, some higher screams, and some muffled pig squeals. The production is quite alright here with a natural sound of instruments, and the mix boasts good balance and audible bass, which is always nice.

Leading Vision has a potential to be appealing to both the fans of melodic and extreme metal due to its smart, legible, and melodic approach to songwriting on the one hand and the incorporation of rather furious instrumentation and extreme vocals on the other. The outcome is a classic of tech death. Enjoy!