Conor Fynes 'Core' - Persefone (8/10)

Hailing from the tiny European nation of Andorra, this tourism hub would not be the first place someone would expect great progressive death metal to be born. Regardless, here is Persefone, an Andorran act that certain leaves no stone unturned when it comes to their musical vision and ambition. The second album of this band as well as my first introduction to the music of Persefone, 'Core' has proved to be an excellent find; a deep and complex journey of progressive extreme metal that screams 'epic' in every sense of the word. Suffice to say however, the album takes quite a few listens before one is able to truly appreciate the scope of it.

From the track listing alone, one can tell that this is not your typical death metal record. At three tracks each over twenty minutes in length, one can expect a foray into epic compositions with 'Core'. In terms of how well the band actually does this, I was pleasantly surprised. Often, I have been disappointed by bands that promise great things, and fail to deliver. While 'Core' may not have the perfection I would associate with a masterpiece, each track is wrought with incredible musical ideas. The band's sound is rooted in melodic death metal, at times sounding like a rawer version of Opeth. Throughout the course of one of these tracks, the listener is transported through a variety of different moods, each contributing to the mythical story the album seeks to tell.

Of particular surprise are the great female vocals here, which pop up several minutes into the album. Wonderfully harmonized, they provide an unexpected respite from the thrashy heaviness of the heavier segments. The death metal moments are done with almost as much success as the mellow parts however, although it does feel as if the rather lacking production of the album deters from what would otherwise have been a consistently stunning listen. Although the somewhat lo-fi studio work is typical of most underground metal and doesn't always hurt the product, the complexity of 'Core' doesn't lend well to being conveyed through anything less than clear production.

Another issue here is the fact that while Persefone makes good use of the track time for each song, each piece doesn't feel so much like a structured composition as it does a stream of great musical ideas, flowing one after the other. There are undoubtedly attempts to provide a sense of cohesion (especially in the first track, 'Sanctuary') but while all excellent pieces, they often feel scattered as compositions. The slight disorganization aside however, this does not stop 'Core' from being a consistently intriguing listen.

A fantastic piece of progressive death metal, and as much a grower as any other album you fill find in its genre; Persefone's 'Core' is an excellent concept album that begs not just a handful of listens, but a long lasting experience.

UMUR Core is the 2nd full-length studio album by Andora based progressive metal act Persefone. The album was released in August 2006 by Soundholic Records.

The band´s debut album Truth Inside the Shades (2004) showed an adventurous approach to writing music, but Core takes the band´s many great ideas even further. The 70 minute album consists of only 3 tracks that each exceed 20 minutes. All 3 tracks are very complex in structure and filled with challenging playing, tempo- and time signature changes and a generally intricate approach to songwriting. The music is still very keyboard/ synth heavy but while Dream Theater and Symphony X are still a very obvious influences, the music on Core is also influenced by both melodic black and melodic death metal. I´m reminded of both Opeth and especially Edge of Sanity at times. The riffing is generally heavier and more raw than on most progressive metal releases but it´s the vocals that make comparisons to harder edged genres valid. The main vocal approach is raspy but there are growling and clean vocals in the music too. In addition to those vocal styles there are some female vocals in the music too that reminds me a bit of Anneke van Giersbergen ( The Gathering). The female vocals give the music a goth metal elements in addition to the many other styles represented on the album. There´s a nice development in the songs, and even though there are many different sections and riffs in each song, there´s a coherence between the sections which means that nothing seem awkwardly placed. That´s a rare achivement in songs this long.

The production on Core is much better than the sound on Truth Inside the Shades, but there is still room for improvement in that department. I still think the keyboards a bit too high in the mix.

Core is an excellent progressive metal album, and while there are things on the album that I´m not too fond of ( the production could have been better), it´s seldom that I´m entertained all the way through a 70 minute long album, like it´s the case here. A 4 star rating is deserved. Core is very recommendable to fans of epic progressive metal who can tolerate extreme vocals.