“Ah, Noveria. When I first encountered this talented bunch on sophomore album Forsaken, the clash between the overt melodrama and the serious subject matter forced me to leave a middling score. But 2019’s Aequilibrium was a huge improvement. It was almost like the band had used my review as a template for what to fix, making strides in songwriting, execution, and production alike.” Peak and Death Valley.
“Coupled with an overly dense production, Forsaken left a bad taste in my mouth, and my review was decidedly mixed, noting the issues above, while lamenting how good everything else was. Noveria is absolutely a talented band; they just made a series of misjudgments that I could not overlook and feverishly hoped they would not repeat. So it wasn’t without some hesitation I took up Aequilibrium. And let me tell you: there are few greater joys than the feeling that a band has taken your constructive criticism to heart.” Power with grace.
“The mainstream view of metal is that it’s either scary or ridiculous. Which, I suppose, makes us all a bunch of clowns, both in how society views us and in our low-key terrorization of the collective subconscious. But you have to admit that a lot of metal really is a bit idiotic, with grown men playing Viking metal, stringing together the foulest descriptions of gore, or, in the case of power metal, screaming about flaming dragons in the skies.” Those dragons are en fuego!
