Ageless Oblivion - Penthos
Having taken 4 years to follow up their debut album "Temples of Transcendent Evolution" with one listen to Penthos you can see what took them so long and they have not spent that time messing around. You only have to look at the time length of the songs on each album. On their first album the average time is 3 minutes and the album is a total 41 minutes while this album is over an hour long and only two tracks are under 6 minutes! (plus an interlude!) Don't be alarmed you don't even notice.
Opening with the shortest track "Wolf's Head" this track is a pretty straight ahead Death Metal song with subtle hints of Black Metal, letting the listener in easily. David Porter has this great murky sound to his guitar. I don't know what it is it must be all the rain but there is this certain dirty, muddy feeling that only British extreme bands manage to pull off. The next two start pushing the envelope, starting off fast and brutal but start branching off into different territories and we start to hear different influences seeping through. We then start entering the core of the album with the awesome "Where Wasps Now Nest" it's on this track that Ageless Oblivion show that they are far from just another Death Metal band, this track has everything, the brutality of Death Metal but the atmosphere of Neurosis and the time signatures of Mastodon. "Submergence" is a great little instrumental that leads into "Furnace" which is actuallly quite a straight forward track following the epic that came before it. "Furnace" is a flat out death metal track with doom parts thrown in with a great, catchy chorus Cannibal Corpse would be proud to have this track in their set! The rest of the album carries on mixing different textures and forms of extreme music then closes with the title track in two parts "Penthos: Lament" and "Penthos: Omnipresent" Lament starts with an ambient introuction before blasting into life we are then taking into a journey of the dark side of the human psyche. It's a slow sludgy doom laden punishing track.The second part follows suit again starting off with a nice mellow intro before exploding this time it's more of a climax bringing the album to a devistating finish.
All in all Penthos is a monumental piece of work and it's very interesting to see how this band evolves. It's an album that rewards repeated listens. With every listen something else is revealed it's suits a number of moods, there is so much going on both on the surface and in the background. It's an album with depth and diversity. It's extreme that doesn't limit itselfs it's heavy in both an emotional and sonic sense. The beautiful artwork fits the sound of this album perfectly. It's well worth checking out if your a fan of Nile, Neurosis and all in between. One of my albums of the year so far!
Opening with the shortest track "Wolf's Head" this track is a pretty straight ahead Death Metal song with subtle hints of Black Metal, letting the listener in easily. David Porter has this great murky sound to his guitar. I don't know what it is it must be all the rain but there is this certain dirty, muddy feeling that only British extreme bands manage to pull off. The next two start pushing the envelope, starting off fast and brutal but start branching off into different territories and we start to hear different influences seeping through. We then start entering the core of the album with the awesome "Where Wasps Now Nest" it's on this track that Ageless Oblivion show that they are far from just another Death Metal band, this track has everything, the brutality of Death Metal but the atmosphere of Neurosis and the time signatures of Mastodon. "Submergence" is a great little instrumental that leads into "Furnace" which is actuallly quite a straight forward track following the epic that came before it. "Furnace" is a flat out death metal track with doom parts thrown in with a great, catchy chorus Cannibal Corpse would be proud to have this track in their set! The rest of the album carries on mixing different textures and forms of extreme music then closes with the title track in two parts "Penthos: Lament" and "Penthos: Omnipresent" Lament starts with an ambient introuction before blasting into life we are then taking into a journey of the dark side of the human psyche. It's a slow sludgy doom laden punishing track.The second part follows suit again starting off with a nice mellow intro before exploding this time it's more of a climax bringing the album to a devistating finish.
All in all Penthos is a monumental piece of work and it's very interesting to see how this band evolves. It's an album that rewards repeated listens. With every listen something else is revealed it's suits a number of moods, there is so much going on both on the surface and in the background. It's an album with depth and diversity. It's extreme that doesn't limit itselfs it's heavy in both an emotional and sonic sense. The beautiful artwork fits the sound of this album perfectly. It's well worth checking out if your a fan of Nile, Neurosis and all in between. One of my albums of the year so far!
1. Wolf's Head
2. The Midas Throat
3. Glacial Blood
4. Where Wasps Now Nest
5. Submergence
6. Furnace
7. Those Who Fed Of Light
8. A Crawling Ingression
9. Penthos: Lament
10. Penthos: Omnipresent
2. The Midas Throat
3. Glacial Blood
4. Where Wasps Now Nest
5. Submergence
6. Furnace
7. Those Who Fed Of Light
8. A Crawling Ingression
9. Penthos: Lament
10. Penthos: Omnipresent
Label: http://www.siegeofamida.net
Reviewer: twansibon
Apr 16, 2014
Apr 16, 2014
Next review:
Black Drop Effect - Injecting Pain
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