Conor Fynes 'Embodiment' - Sculptured (9/10)

As an existing fan of one of this supergroup's parent bands 'Agalloch,' I was at first, admittedly a bit cold to this completely different style. Whereas Agalloch is very folk and ambient based metal, the jump to avant-garde tech metal was quite a leap to take as a listener. Despite the praise friends had showered it and my love for Agalloch, I sadly passed this one by when it was released in 2008. Fortunately however, I was lucky enough to find it lying about in a record store and picked it up in the hopes that I had been wrong on my initial judgement of them. Luckily, I was.

Even disregarding the association with Agalloch, Sculptured can be a bit of a hard adjustment to make. Elevator-music style organs paired with technical death metal? Yes, this is an avant-garde metal band we're talking about here.

The extreme vocals here are solid and fit the dark, menacing vibe of the album. The biggest musical problem I have with the album (at least initally) were the clean vocals. While I usually really like clean vocals against heavy metal, I really did not find the vocals to fit the musical style at all... Maybe this was because the previous singer ran off due to conflicting views between his religion and the lyrics themselves but things didn't seem to work out; the singer just didn't sound 'good' in my ears. Like the organs however (which at first, I found distracting from the otherwise brilliant guitar riffage) they start to grow on me and I could now see why Thomas Walling was chosen for the job. He is actually a great singer but not in a metal style at all, which felt awkward at first but eventually just added to the album and band's character.

It's easy to see why the previous clean singer could not handle the lyrical content. The lyricist here very clearly states his beliefs here. Most of the words deal with the non- existence or impotence of god, and existentialism. Obviously the lyricist has taken some courses in philosophy, but there's a lot of quotable lines here. As long as you're not religious (or if you are, not easily taken to offense) there's some brilliant poetry here.

The highlight of the album has to be the finale, which can only be described as 'magical.' Intense polyrhythms mixed with melodic beauty is something that dreams are made of. The albums trails of much unlike the energy it came in with; with a fragile piano melody and timid narration.

For fans of avant-garde metal, it shouldn't take too long to realize that this is a future classic of the sub-genre. I personally prefer the sound of the sister band Agalloch alot more due to the fact that there's alot more emotion involved but this just proves something that was already evident; the members of Winds and Agalloch (and Estradasphere, in this case) are brilliant musicians and highly talented. A great piece of tech metal and a piece teeming with thought and layers to peel back and enjoy. Great material, to put it simply.

avestin A fantastic musical sculpture

From The End Records comes this fine release with an impressive lineup that not only promises but delivers beyond my expectations. The lineup is made up of guitarist Don Anderson bassist Jason Walton (both from Agalloch), Andy Winter on keyboards (Winds, Age Of Silence), drummer Dave Murray (ex-Estradasphere, Deserts Of Traun, Tholus) and vocalist Tom Walling.

Wow, what a start! This album opens with such a kick in your face heavy riffs mixed with great lush keyboards much in a 70's inspired Hammond organ style. What's great in this album is how they have progressed! This is wonderfully prog rock woven into metal form. This album is just full of progressive metal goodness: intricate guitar playing, fast changing rhythms, cool tunes, excellent playing, richness of sound, combined vocal styles (growling and clear) - a recipe for excellence. This is an excellent album, get it now! The production is great, clear and fresh. The songs are obviously well structured and have many intricacies built into them in terms of deviations from the main theme whether by time signature changes, vocal style, intensity or mood. They have done a remarkable work here that has caught me from the very first listen.

The choice to have only 5 tracks (though mostly long ones) has proven to be a wise one, as this album is a dense and rich experience and a longer album would have resulted in a less effective experience. The last songs, Embodiment is the Purest Form of Horror, is in itself a good reason to get this. It is a fantastic voyage between the fierceness of metal to the more melodic and mellow sides of it (reminiscing Winds somewhat), to a majestic part lead by keyboards and backed up wonderfully by the drums. It is a wonderful song and a good representative of the track they have gone to, or rather the level they have elevated up to.

If you're unfamiliar with Sculptured, then band that might serve as reference would be the obvious Agalloch to a certain point but mostly Winds and Age Of Silence, and to some extent Opeth. Fans of these will love this most probably. In any case, they have not changed their basic style or sound; they have improved it and progressed and fulfilled their fine potential.

In short - it is a great progressive metal/rock album! This has started my list of the best 2008 albums.