Votum - Metafiction - review
Votum - Metafiction - review
Tracklist
01. Falling Dream02. Glassy Essence
03. Home
04. Faces
05. Stranger Than Fiction
06. Indifferent
07. December 20th
A review by
Doc G. August 15, 2010
Making super-melodic metal seems like an incredibly difficult task these days, finding a balance between delicate beauty and being actually metal. Votum manage to pull this balance off really well...at least for the first few songs. The expansive soundscapes set a fantastic backdrop for this epic sounding prog album, cram-packed full of sweeping, sorrowful melodies. This is another band that seems to know the value of infectious songwriting above pointless displays of virtuosity - that's not to say the musicians aren't quite remarkable. All showy displays of musicianship are done with taste, not self-loving arrogance. Basically picture a more electric sounding version of Opeth's Damnation, throw in a taste or two of some hardcore-ish type vocals, and you've got Metafiction .
What starts off as a pretty powerful album, eventually comes off as dramatic whining by the end due to total lack of variation. The songs are actually quite good standing on their own, but sitting through a 45 minute album, consisting almost entirely of 5+ minute songs is extremely trying, especially considering how much each song blends into one another, sounding basically the same. The attempts at variation tend to make the album worse, ironically. A few aggressive moments rear their head, but not long, or frequently enough for a truly enjoyable ride, they seem to merely highlight how tame the rest of the album is, really cruel teasing in a way.
Is the music good? Yes. Is the album good? Not really. Small doses are fantastic, but as a whole, Metafiction is a bit too long for it's own good.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 6 |
| Originality: | 8 |
| Production: | 8 |
Comments
Comments:
9
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Posts: 3493
What's with the sudden review bombardment? Heh, doesn't sound very promising, but I'll see.
---- Licensed under the GPLv3. Relinquish proprietary software for a greater GNU/America.
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 Posts: 5721 |
Posts: 5721
As far as I remember, Votum is a decent thing. It's probably part of the Polish wave of Riverside kind of prog bands, that try to employ similar atmosphere but lack in overall compositional skills, I think. There aren't many that pull it off. I.
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Posts: 1752  |
Posts: 1752
The review is interesting but I gotta say they reaaly didn't appeal to me.I don't know why.They are great muscian but I just can't connect with the songs
---- You cannot sedate all the things you hate - MM The Observer is the source of reality - Bloom God damn it!! What did Diddy didn't do? - Satan
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 Posts: 9726 |
Posts: 9726 Written by vezzy on 15.08.2010 at 13:49 I wrote 3 reviews, then lost my internet then went on vacation before I could post them, so I posted all 3 at once when I returned. The album isn't really bad, it's just kind of weak all around.
---- "I got a lot of really good ideas, problem is, most of them suck." - George Carlin
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For the fans of Silent Hill! Same ambient-heavy music with similiar riffs, solos and lots of ballads. Even the lyrics are some horror story about murderer or smth. At least in the debut album, that is.
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 Posts: 2034 |
Posts: 2034
This is the only Votum album I haven't listened to. However, the other 2 are very good imo, and I wouldn't compare them to Riverside, I think they sound more like Wolverine.
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