Angry Metal Guy

Votum // Metafiction
Rating: 2.0/5.0 — Some good things, but largely forgettable
Label: Mystic (PL)
Websites: votumband.pl | myspace.com/votumband
Release Dates: PL: 19.11.2009 | Rest of the World: 03.21.2010

Poland’s progressive rock and metal scene has definitely been strong of late. In the last year I’ve discovered some really great bands, particularly Indukti and Riverside which have just blown me away from the Polish scene. Turns out Poland doesn’t have just black metal and death metal in their veins, but instead there are a good number of proggy dudes who really dig the new wave of prog that has been pushing its way into metal in the last decade. Votum‘s second album is another one of these Polish prog rock records that’s definitely influenced by neo-prog bands like Porcupine Tree, Opeth and Anathema. In 2008, Votum released their first album Time Must Have a Stop, which impressed some but left me cold. Metafiction is the next step in the band’s development, but still doesn’t impress.

Metafiction is an LP friendly 45 minutes of progressive rock that is really meant to appeal to fans of the aforementioned bands. And while it is an admirable attempt at creating the same kind of intelligent, interesting music as those other bands it doesn’t have the same kind of depth, originality and clean approach that the other bands do well. While Porcupine Tree, Opeth and Riverside all are able to walk the fine line between prog and pop music, which keeps the listener interested in their songs despite them being long sometimes, Votum has trouble with their songs feeling drawn out, simplistic and repetitive at times. On top of that, this record is remarkably weak vocally and especially lyrically. Vocalist Maciej Kosinski is remarkably talented, but his voice feels like it doesn’t fit the music at all. He sounds like he would be way more comfortable in a progressive metal band along the lines of Dream Theater than this post-rock kind of progressive rock. While this isn’t the end of the world, it’s sort of like rubbing cloth in the wrong direction. It just feels weird after a while.

I truly enjoyed several parts of several songs, but there wasn’t an entire song on the entire album that I found to be truly gripping. Instead, the tracks slip through one ear and out the other back into obscurity. The things that actually stand out for me are not the good, but instead the bad. The lyrics are not very good, seeming oddly trite and unpoetic at times, reaching their peak of bad with the final track “December 20th,” which is a poorly executed attempt at writing about synchronicity. The stuff that  really stands out in a good way is when these guys show off their metal influences, like at the beginning of “Glassy Essence” or in “Stranger than Fiction” which is easily the best song on the record. But unfortunately these things are too few and far between to keep things fresh.

This could be a case of sophomore slump, as this is the band’s second album. Or, I could entirely be missing the point as I’m really not a fan of Porcupine Tree, either, who Votum has quite a lot of similarities to. But really Metafiction is not the impressive display of musical and pop sensibilities that we have witnessed from other Polish prog bands over the last few years. Hopefully they’ll hit their stride with their third album, but this is probably one you can pass on and not be missing a whole heck of a lot.

Well, everyone else under the sun has been releasing their Top 10 lists, and for those of you faithful readers out there I’m sure you’re also interested in what I’m going to say about the best records of 2009. First, let me say that for the first half of this year I was not indeed Angry Metal Guy—but instead, I was just a normal guy buying my metal and hoping that it was going to be fucking awesome. Now I’m a bitter critic. As a bitter critic I hear a lot more, but this year has still been characterized by some of the biggest bands on the scene for me. Mainly, Amorphis, who in my opinion have released the finest album of the year, if not the finest album of their very distinguished career. But, let me get to that later. There have been some great records this year, but there has been a lot of mediocre shit. Think of this list as being two-tiered—top 10 and then top 20. The top 10 are the records that I think were really awesome, elite albums, the second 10 are records that I think are great and worth your time and effort. Note that I haven’t heard certain albums that I’d like to hear due to that whole poverty not being offset by stealing music thing. With this, I hope to launch AngryMetalGuy.com into the new year on a new note: one where bands suck less.

#1: Amorphis // Skyforger — Amorphis is cooler than your favorite band. Honestly, they just fucking are. They have somehow managed to keep themselves excellent and relevant after all these years by producing some of the finest mainstream metal that the world has ever scene. Not only that, but their new vocalist has brought a life and energy to this band that after Tuonela I, frankly, had never expected to see again. Honestly, more power to these guys. They are a truly fantastic band on a roll. I look forward to new material from them in the future.
#2: Obscura // Cosmogenesis — Yeah, sure, everyone can say that it sounds like a bit of a blend of a Cynic/Necrophagist rip-off, but I honestly don’t give a shit. These guys are fucking phenomenal musicians who make really convincing and awesome metal and I have listened to this record way more than I was anticipating when I first got it. I am especially moved by the bass on this album which is just seriously awesome—a trait that many metal bands just, frankly, suck at. This album is balls-to-the-wall and awesome.
#3: Fleshgod Apocalypse // Oracles — Seriously some of the best tech death metal I’ve ever heard. What I love about this album is how good it is at being deliciously melodic and really subtle about it. Honestly, these guys are so much better than your average tech death metal band. I have trouble seeing why they haven’t gone over better, but I know that there’s another one of those ripoff memes out there about these guys. Anyway, this album totally ripped my goddamn face off and I totally loved it. They need a real drummer, though.
#4: Guilt Machine // On This Perfect Day — I’m going to be listening to this album for years. Partially it’s just that the vocals of this record keep drawing me back, but it really is one of the few albums that really drew me back over and over again this year. Super awesome melodies, amazing vocals and just perfectly composed. I might not be a huge fan of Ayreon, but I’m never going to insult the Dutch mastermind behind all these projects because Guilt Machine is an epic masterpiece of progressive rock/metal.
#5: Megadeth // Endgame — Oh man. This record is not a record I ever expected to end up on my top 10 list. It was so much fucking better than I expected and I hate myself for saying that because Dave Mustaine is the planet’s biggest douchebag. But man, this record is great. Easily among the best records for the year. Though, it’s getting close.
#6: Riverside // Anno Domini High Definition — Polish prog that really does something me. It’s a good blending of progressive metal and modern rock and has some amazing stuff in it. I love the sort of Opeth-y parts, of course, but everything about this record screams “listen to me again and again and again!”… and I did.
#7: The 11th Hour // Burden of Grief — Great fucking Dutch/Swedish doom. Honestly this is one of those records that I wish would’ve gotten more play as I think it’s actually on the up side of bands that have gotten a ton of play this year (mainly Ahab) from the underground metal guys, but I honestly think that this is the best doom to be released this year. The vocals are fantastic, the writing is amazing and all-in-all I’m pleased with this album.
#8: Indukti // Idmen — More excellent Polish prog that totally kicked my ass. This band is really fucking interesting and the songs on this album are well-crafted, fun to listen to and just all-in-all worth a spin or two. I think it will definitely be one of the albums that stands out for me from 2009 because it was something I’d never heard before and I was really, really impressed with it. Well, shit, I still am impressed!
#9: Ghost Brigade // Isolation Songs — Another album that I had to get on my own, but wow was it worth it. This record is basically like Katatonia meets.. well, sludge. They do all of those things that Sólstafir, Hanging Garden, etc., are trying to do, but they do them with tact, grace and a smart pop sense that those bands totally fucking lack.
#10: Scar Symmetry // Dark Matter Dimensions — I’m almost embarrassed to write this. This album totally jumped out and kicked my ass. Honestly, the new vocalists make them great and the new material is fantastic. The songs are very, very good and the catchiness kept drawing me back. I feel like a sucker because this stuff is so fucking commercial I can hardly help myself. If death metal could be gummy pop, it would be Scar Symmetry. But man… Oh man.

Honorable Mentions:

Fejd // Storm
Claws // Absorbed in the Nether Void
Black Sun Aeon // Darkness Walks Beside Me
Be’lakor // Stone’s Reach
Cobalt // Gin
Ulcerate // Everything is Fire
Marduk // Wormwood
Havok // Burn
Gorod // Process of a New Decline
The Chasm // Farseeing the Paranormal Abysm

Indukti – Idmen
Rating: 4.25/5.0 – Excellent, but winding and weak at moments
Label: InsideOut
Websites: myspace.com/indukti | indukti.com
Release date: July 27th, 2009

There is a challenge with truly progressive metal and rock and that challenge is, of course, how one describes it in novel terms without sounding like some kind of pretentious ass.   The other major problem as a reviewer is that one has to rely on sort of contrived comparisons, so when a band sort of not comparable to other bands it makes things difficult.  Not just a little difficult, but a lot difficult, because as I sit here I am literally trying to figure out how to describe this record in a way that will sit well, make sense and give an imagine of how excellent this album is.

I guess that’s where I’ll start: this album is, for the most part, excellent.  It is a smoothly progressive blend of varying styles and influences, which are deftly melded into a cohesive whole.  That, of course, brings us to those contrived comparisons to try to get the sound across: basically, if you were to mix Tool with Skyclad (sans the thrash metal, mainly just the violin), Enslaved and Meshuggah, you might have something that sounds like Indukti.  However, unlike a band like Tool or Skyclad there is no pop-song formula involved in the writing of music, here—instead the band relies heavily on improvisation in the writing process, which leads to flowing, linear songs that don’t really repeat parts so much as work in movements (which is becoming more common with modern progressive bands in general). The songs go between tribal soundscapes with folk and classical instrumentation and heavy as a ton of bricks chuggy parts, even with a couple of sickly sweet chorus hooks on “…and Who’s God Now?!” which is easily the album’s best track, with it’s powerful vocal performance and excellent writing.

The style that I have described, however, comes with some weaknesses which the band has sort of fallen into in a couple of places.  The first of these weaknesses is that this writing style can get lost in itself and in a couple of places, most notably the song “Aemaet,” the band really just gets lost in what feels a little bit like running scales.  These places lack the great groove and seductive, hypnotizing melody of the best parts of Idmen.  The second weakness was almost completely avoided by the addition of vocals on three of these tracks—but without these, I get the feeling that a lot of this stuff would start to blend together, and while it would create an interesting soundscape, there would be fewer memorable moments.

However, the weaknesses on this album were entirely mitigated by the awesomeness that also ensued and I have to say that I am very convinced that this album will end up on my “best albums of 2009″ list.  The dynamism and musical skill shown by this band means, hopefully, that they will get more publicity in the next year or so. They definitely deserve it.

So, another Polish progressive metal band, another excellent record.  There must be something in the water. Let me forewarn you—if you’re not really into progressive music, that is, sort of lacking style obsessions or ideas about how a record should sound or how songs should be put together, Idmen may not be the record for you.  While I am blown away by Indukti‘s musicianship and songwriting, this record is almost entirely without vocals and what vocals are on this album are often weird, winding and not entirely a standard sound.  They range between very Maynard James Keenan-sounding vocals on “Nemesis Voices” to thrash and death vocals on “…and Who’s God Now?!”  This isn’t a weakness for me, obviously, as I think the record is amazing—but a lot of people might get lost in the wandering intricacies that make up Indukti‘s newest opus.  If this sounds at all appealing to you: buy this record.  This band deserves all the support they can get.