I REMEMBER!
I thought of another detail, namely "not Caligula's Horse". Why is that important? Because some key members of the band I was looking for later formed #CaligulasHorse!

#Arcane

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWu7L-x60XE

Caligula's Horse, Beatles Cover’ını Yayınladı

#CaligulasHorse #prog #progrock #rock

https://los-endos.com/caligulas-horse-beatles-coverini-yayinladi/

For @DXMacGuffin's #ProgTuesday:

#Karnivool: Aozora

https://song.link/td7rdfm0nnhxr

#ProgMetal #ProgRock

FFO #CaligulasHorse #DeadLetterCircus #Rishloo

You don't know which #Metal 🤟 band - and album to listen ?

Here are some suggestions (from soft to hard) :

#CaligulasHorse - Charcoal Grace
#ProtestTheHero - Palimpsest
#Persefone - Metanoia
#Periphery - V - Djent is not a genre
#AlphaWolf - Half Living Things
#rock #hardrock #music

#CaligulasHorse - Marigold
https://youtu.be/3C5qnG0GLfI?si=g-ToKNgoVrzq6Ydx
Song.Link: https://song.link/y/zbVlyRFWsUM

@metal #music #metal #MetalMusic #ProgressiveMetal #prog #CleanVocals #MaleVocals

Dissocia – To Lift the Veil Review

By Carcharodon

Dissocia is the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Daniel R Flys (of Persefone and Eternal Storm) and drummer Gabriel Valcázar (Wormed and Cancer). On their debut, To Lift the Veil, the duo set themselves a challenge: blend extreme metal with synthwave and dreamwave elements to create a catchy, yet unpredictable, blend of genres that come together into a progressive package. Were these two complete unknowns presenting that vision, one would rightly expect a horrifically unlistenable car crash. However, given Flys and Valcázar’s pedigree with their other outfits, I had somewhat higher hopes (albeit with expectations carefully managed) for Dissocia. I’m not entirely sure what dreamwave is, and synthwave is not my go-to, although it has its place1 but, mixed with extreme metal, I envisaged some sort of off-the-wall Devin Townsend craziness happening.

Straight out of the gate, the dancing arpeggio-like guitar line and swelling synths that open “Existentialist” make clear that To Lift the Veil is going to be a wild ride. And so it proves. Across a chaotic 41 minutes and change, Dissocia lurch between progressive melodeath, something that approaches deathcore in a few places (“He Who Dwells”), symphonic synth movements, dreamy Unreqvited-esque sequences and more, the whole often set to weirdly discordant, pulsing rhythms that border on industrial groove. All in all, the album’s structures have the same levels of predictability as the movements of a severely inebriated person crossing an ice rink. This need not necessarily be viewed as a bad thing though. Flys is both a talented guitarist and a versatile vocalist, his harsh vox often recalling Gojira’s Joe Duplantier (“Existentialist”), while his surprisingly delicate cleans, which occasionally wander into Caligula’s Horse territory (“Evasion”), offer a much-needed extra dimension. Similarly, Valcázar’s work on drums is stellar and the sheer unpredictability of this record is part of its charm.

The challenge for Dissocia is to somehow tie the numerous threads of To Lift the Veil into a cohesive tapestry, rather than a ball of yarn. At its strongest, they manage this well. There’s a rabid groove to “Samsara” that it’s almost impossible not to enjoy, while the slow build synth opening to “Zenosyne” gradually unfolds itself, the tension building, before the Flys’ guitar lets loose progressive death riffs and Valcázar unleashes overlapping broadsides behind the kit. This flows well into “The Lucifer Effect,” which similarly shifts between soaring moments of chaos and more reflective passages. While the turn-on-a-dime nature of the craziness does in some ways recall Devin Townsend, it’s not until the heavily distorted screams at the midway point of closer “Out of Slumber” that Hevy Devy really shows through in the vocals.

Not everything on To Lift the Veil works though and, at times, it feels like Dissocia are losing their grasp on the myriad elements of the record. “He Who Dwells” is the most obvious example of this, as the progressive extreme elements, which often mirror opener “Existentialist,” stray into deathcore territory, particularly in Valcázar’s drumming. This simply doesn’t gel with the rest of To Lift the Veil. Equally, the drifting moods of “Evasion” seem rather aimless at times, while Flys’ vocals rather get away from him on closer “Out of Slumber,” which by its end feels like someone desperately trying to claw themselves out of slumber and into wakefulness. The production, also handled by Flys, doesn’t always help, with the drums sometimes seeming to disappear down a hole (middle of “He Who Dwells”) before roaring back to the front of the stage, and the whole thing feeling loud and slightly flat, despite the DR6.

You have to admire the vision and ambition on show on To Lift the Veil, which in other hands would likely have been a hot mess. Far from easing themselves into things on their debut, Dissocia have thrown everything at this record and some of it’s really good (“Samsara” and “Zenosyne”). The stunning artwork by Rein Van Oyen (Haken) gives a sense of the surreal, expansive journey you can expect, but perhaps not the chaotic nature of the ride. I hope Dissocia have a second album in them because, with just a little more refinement and focus to iron out some of the inconsistencies, as well as improve the production a little, there is a helluva lot of very interesting potential here.

Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Willowtip Records
Websites: dissociaofficial.bandcamp.com/album/to-lift-the-veil | facebook.com/dissociaofficial
Releases Worldwide: March 21st, 2025

#25 #2025 #AmericanMetal #CaligulaSHorse #Cancer #Deathcore #DevinTownsend #Dissocia #ElectronicaMetal #EternalStorm #Gojira #Mar25 #Persefone #ProgressiveMetal #Review #Reviews #Spanish #Synthwave #ToLiftTheVeil #Unreqvited #WillowtipRecords #Wormed

If I'd really have to stick a label on this album, it would be good for #ThursDeath because of the growls alone, but this is much more than that. Also, a single entry for @alicemcalicepants's #SupergroupsAndSideProjects as it features guests from #CaligulasHorse, #ThankYouScientist, and #Wilderun.
A wonderfully chaotic, sometimes cacophonic piece.

#Lunar: Tempora Mutantur

https://album.link/i/1779001784

#ProgressiveDeathMetal

FFO #AnAbstractIllusion #Haken #MountainCaller

Unreqvited – A Pathway to the Moon Review

By Carcharodon

Unreqvited and I have history. The excellent Mosaic I: L’Amour et L’Ardeur (2018) was just the third review I wrote here and also my first 4.0.1 Since then, I’ve reviewed the slightly creaky Mosaic II: La déteste et la détresse (3.0) and the very good Beautiful Ghosts (3.5). Now back with seventh album, A Pathway to the Moon, Unreqvited are the band I’ve reviewed more than any other, and the bright, expansive synth work, paired with post-black explosions and howled, wordless vocals feel almost like a comforting hug at this point. While retaining a core sound, Unreqvited’s albums have moved progressively away from the DSBM / post-black stylings that defined their early releases, moving ever further into an ambient post-space. However, A Pathway to the Moon, sees possibly the biggest shift to date, the introduction of vocals. Like, proper singing, with words and stuff. So, what does sole member 鬼 (Ghost) have to say?

While closer to a traditional album in structure than Unreqvited’s previous output, A Pathway to the Moon gives the impression of a cinematic soundtrack. Flowing between something that, at times, nudges up against Ihsahn territory (“The Antimatter”), synth-dominated ambient work and soaring guitar- and vocal-led pieces that could almost be Caligula’s Horse in places (“The Starforger”), there’s a lot to take in. It’s credit to 鬼 that the album retains a cohesive feel, despite its chameleonic mood shifts. Bookended by the percussion-free dreams of “Overture: I Disintegrate” and “Departure: Everlasting Dream,” A Pathway to the Moon has the feel of a journey, guiding the listener through shifting landscapes. Or moonscapes. For all the lush synth work and keys, there’s something desolate and sad about the album, which has a much more despondent feel to it than 2021’s Beautiful Ghosts.

Perhaps A Pathway to the Moon’s feeling of loneliness is driven by the vocals. It turns out that 鬼’s voice, previously a wordless, howling demon, is actually high, clear, and fragile, with an almost ethereal edge to it, especially when double-tracked (“Void Essence / Frozen Tears”). In places, I was reminded of Mark Garrett’s (Kardashev) cleans, which is a very good thing indeed. While clean vocals now dominate, both black metal rasps and DSBM shrieks have their place in the mix but, from the outset to the close, it’s Unreqvited’s new face that we see the most. Whether set to warbling electronica (“Into the Starlit Beyond”) or dancing guitar lines (“The Starforger”), it’s hard to see the focus as anything but 鬼’s voice. There may be a degree to which this is because A Pathway to the Moon shatters my expectations of what an Unreqvited album is but there is no doubt that, after six albums more or less instrumental albums, 鬼 has found his voice.

The prominent introduction, not just of vocals, but of clean singing, came as a surprise to me. However, on reflection, it is also a natural progression in Unreqvited’s sound from previous outing, Beautiful Ghosts. It also aligns with the shift into being more of a touring band. While 鬼’s (surprisingly) strong voice carries the transition, to a certain degree, the compositional focus has also shifted slightly away from the gorgeous soundscapes that were the hallmark of Mosaic I and Empathica. While “Void Essence / Frozen Tears” showcases all aspects of Unreqvited’s sound to excellent effect, other tracks (most notably “Into the Starlit Beyond”) feel almost like something was taken away to make space for the vocals. To put it another way, rather than the vocals embellishing or enhancing what was great about Unreqvited, what used to be achieved instrumentally, is now achieved through the vocals. It’s still very good but weirdly has the feel of treading water, rather than moving forward. The drums are also pushed way down into the mix to make space for the vox, leaving the percussion lacking a bit of impact.

If that last paragraph reads as heavily critical of Unreqvited, it’s not meant to. I really enjoy A Pathway to the Moon but I’ve been on something of a journey with it. I generally don’t listen to advance tracks of things I know I’m going to review, preferring to come into the album as a whole. This meant the shift to singing caught me off guard. After I got over my surprise, I loved it but, the more time I spent with the album, the more I missed some of the rich textures and dynamics from previous records, some of which were left on the cutting room floor. That said, this is a hugely enjoyable, emotively written record that I thoroughly recommend.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Prophecy Productions
Websites: unreqvited.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/unreqvited
Releases Worldwide: February 7th, 2025

#2025 #35 #APathwayToTheMoon #AmbientMetal #Blackgaze #CaligulaSHorse #CanadianMetal #DSBM #Feb25 #Ihsahn #Kardashev #PostRock #PostBlackMetal #PostMetal #ProphecyProductions #Review #Reviews #Shoegaze #Synthwave #Unreqvited