Persefone - Spiritual Migration review
| Band: | Persefone |
| Album: | Spiritual Migration |
| Style: | Melodic death metal, Progressive metal |
| Release date: | March 29, 2013 |
| A review by: | Dream Taster |
01. Flying Sea Dragons
02. Mind As Universe
03. The Great Reality
04. Zazen Meditation
05. The Majestic Of Gaia
06. Consciousness (Pt. 1): Sitting In Silence
07. Consciousness (Pt. 2): A Path To Enlightenment
08. Inner Fullness
09. Metta Meditation
10. Upward Explosion
11. Spiritual Migration
12. Returning To The Source
13. Outro
Andorra is one of the smallest nations in the world. Lodged between Spain and France in the middle of the Pyrenees, it still holds enough talented musicians to bring to the world one of the most gifted metal bands of the last few years. If the name sounds familiar, it is because Persefone have made a name for themselves by releasing the album Core in 2006, a juggernaut of an album that still slays my psyche to this day. Its successor Shin-Ken was also a worthy experience in its own right. 2013 brings us Spiritual Migration.
With their own brand of extreme progressive metal, the musicians of Persefone continue to impress. Layering clean vocals and growls as usual, the band hasn't changed their massive sound one iota. It's like a wall of sound coming at you most of the time, using elements of progressive power (a la Symphony X), melodic death (a la Wintersun and Mors Principium Est), even black metal at times. The guitar work might seem overwhelming sometimes but I am a sucker for those over the top solos especially when they are cleverly folded into the songs.
It is beauty at its utmost brutality. Some songs such as "Zazen Meditation" are all in nuances while others such as "The Great Reality" are very much straightforward. The meat and potatoes of the record are undeniably the two parts of the song "Consciousness" along with "Inner Fullness".
By the way the artwork is phenomenal and the production absolutely bombastic, if you ever need a reason why you need to buy the physical CD.
While it falls short in terms of brutal breaks compared to Core, this album is an epic ride into the fun and crazy side of extreme metal. It's well structured, powerful, dark and symphonic. As with its predecessors, Spiritual Migration becomes quickly addictive despite its complexity. Shortlisted, you bet.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 8 |
| Originality: | 7 |
| Production: | 9 |
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Written on 19.01.2014 by
Bringing you reviews of quality music and interesting questions such as: "A picture is worth a thousand words. How many words is a song worth?" I have only got so much patience and skills, you do the math. |
Rating:
10
10
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Rating: 10 |
Years ago, in my cousin's dingy basement, moments after our first cigarette, he played me those menacing notes unlike anything I'd heard before: heavy metal. It was glorious, I was hooked for life --on metal, thankfully, not smoking. I'm a lifelong fan of music most find repulsive (part of its charm, like black licorice), yet it takes a lot to digest a metal album. Even for metalheads, they're intentionally complex, rarely "catchy," and with so many sub-genres to explore, things get overlooked. By chance I gave an album I liked (but moved on from) another go, and am sure glad I did. Nearly two years later it's grown to become, dare I say, my new favorite OF ALL TIME. Read more ›› |
Comments
Comments: 3
Visited by: 163 users
| musclassia Staff Posts: 7621  |
Second only to Protest The Hero this year for me, and considering some of the other albums released that's saying a lot. Core never fully won me over, even if there was a fair amount of good stuff within those huge tracks, but I fell in love with Shin-Ken and this is arguably even better. The beautiful clean vocals, delightful piano/keyboard parts, exciting song arrangements, lovely guitar solos, even the staccato-y sound of the main body of the music, all so good. Personal favourite might be The Majestic Of Gaia but in all honesty there isn't a weak link, even including the soft interlude-esque tracks.
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| annodomini Posts: 784  |
I still remeber the orgasmic throw back to Shin-ken in "Returning to the Source" when I first heard it. Best of 2013 for me.
---- the riddle wants to be...
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| Diverge Posts: 1334 |
Written by annodomini on 20.01.2014 at 09:50 HAHA probably my favourite part of 2013, come to think of it. "Orgasmic" was indeed the right descriptor. 
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