Sunday 11 January 2015

Ne Obliviscaris - Citadel


After finishing the end of year lists you always run into CD's you forgot to consider by not keeping track records of purchased albums (The Scintilla Project) or that arrive late and sound really good (Malpractice). Sometimes it can happen that a CD is received late and after several headphone sessions you  realize it would easily be top 3 material. Ne Obliviscaris ranks in the last category, since how do these australians blow me away after hearing Citadel again and again. I read about them on Prog metal zone, heard them on Progstreaming and now realize that a mini-laptop can be a misleading source of information when it comes to full sound impressions.

This album opens with trilogy Painters of the Tempest consisting of an opening and ending instrumental piece of 3 minutes something with a guiding role for their creepy violin. Inbetween we get 16:35 minutes Triptych Lux, which in hindsight might well be the best song of 2014. The constant change of mood and atmosphere, while flowing so fluent that the 16 minutes fly by is just simply amazing. With even split between the brutal and clean vocals this song sets the tone for the whole album. Next on is Pyrrhic the fastest song starting with a guitar string cry out and fast drums and accompanying vocals. Only 9:50 minutes this is the shorty as song 5 and 6 make up one theme again Devour Me: taking us over 15 minutes all over the place to end the album with a smile on your face and just pushing play again.

Ne Obliviscaris had an album out already "Portal of I" which I missed but shall get soon. Anyone looking for a band that can mix extreme metal with moody parts, having two great vocalists, writing long but very catchy songs and have a very present violin for added tones (do Mama's Boys still play live? last time I saw an effective violin solo while supporting Gary Moore in 198?)  Citadel is the album you should buy. I read that they come to Europe for some festivals and if we are lucky some own shows to fill the gaps. Very high on my lists of bands to see and now I just pushed repeat.

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