This week I had plenty of time to give some quality time to some recent releases for this column. I was traveling back and forth to a conference so had plenty of time to use my iTouch for review purposes. I have to confess that I spent some time walking around the conference plugged in as well. At least two of these releases should have been reviewed last week but I held em’ over as an excuse to listen to them some more.
Persona Non Grata: Shade in the Light
A Greek progressive metal band with a Latin name is quite unusual. Greece has never been known for its great metal and I am not sure I know of any Greek prog either. This meant the bar was set pretty low for this release. I can report that it leapt over the bar with the grace of the greatest Olympic pole vaulter. And to be quite honest it's not even that derivative as so many prog albums are these days.
This is just some great heavy prog done with all the care and craftsmanship you would expect from such a release. It is European in the vein of Vanden Plas, if a bit less pretentious. This is one of those releases that normally slips by unnoticed only to be picked up on a few years later when it's impossible to find. Quality seeps from the release and will soon convince you of their talent. Not necessarily a CD you will instantly fall in love with, but well worth the effort.
One of the best things to come out of Athens in a rather long time. Check out this sleeper of a release before every one else discovers it.
Leif Edling: Songs of Torment, Songs of Joy
Dark bleak and funereal this is quite good fun to listen to, one has to admit. Yes, you read that right: moribund but never dull and never the slightest bit annoying. This is sludgy doom metal played by guys who take it seriously but are having a damn good bit of fun. Organs abound giving it that slightly camp-goth touch with choir like backing vocals in tracks like “Angelic till I die”. This new band is firing on all cylinders and doing it right.
Solo work from the Candlemass bassist, this is very much old school doom in the best of ways. “On the Edge of Time” has some funky space keys that would not put Hawkwind to shame. This is quite the space metal doom piece that is quite epic in scope, astonishingly so.
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