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Darkology - Altered Reflections review



Reviewer:
8.3

32 users:
7.84
Band: Darkology
Album: Altered Reflections
Release date: November 2009


01. Microcozm
02. Violent Vertigo
03. I Bleed
04. Dark Energy
05. Nobot
06. Eyes Of Argus
07. Aura Of Xhad
08. Alone
09. Revitalize
10. Trance Of The Gorgons

Derivation and showing your influences is a tricky thing, a fine line to walk I guess you could say. Either you have to throw some new aspect in that could come across quite gimmicky, or don't, and run the risk of sounding like a complete knock-off. Darkology play a sort of thrashy Judas Priest, offset by a few progressive elements, a la Nevermore.

So what does all this have to do with the idea of bringing in new elements? Well, the skeleton of Darkology's music is a pretty straight-forward form of metal we've all seen before, but the progressive element in the music really plays as a wild card - occasionally it's a downfall of the album, and other times it really makes this album what it is.

The good side is the more tranquil, softer sections drenched in beautiful guitar melodies. When listening to aggressive, hard-edged heavy metal, having some more peaceful interludes does a great job at giving the heavier sections a little more power through contrast. The bad side? Everyone is familiar with the strange time signatures thrown into a lot of metal these days - the stops and switches that bring the entire song to a brief halt before changing direction; those are the down side. Once again, it's also in contrast with the more straight-forward base of the music that makes this a bad thing; one minute you'll be rocking out, head banging and shredding on your air-guitar, when all of a sudden one of these switches will pop out of nowhere, throwing off the groove.

Overall this is a great little album, and will probably be more appreciated by those who enjoy dashes of prog in their metal. On the other hand, Altered Reflections has enough aggression and great hooks for the more straight-forward metalheads among us.


Rating breakdown
Performance: 10
Songwriting: 8
Originality: 7
Production: 8





Written on 19.12.2009 by Former EIC. Now just a reviewer guy.


Comments

Comments: 5   Visited by: 94 users
21.12.2009 - 23:22
Crazy Booduh

Great CD. Anything with Kelly Carpenter on vox is a sure winner.
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04.02.2010 - 22:42
Valaskjalf
Account deleted
Cool vocals...lame music
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10.02.2010 - 17:32
JohnDoe
Account deleted
It's a good album, the Nevermore influence is obvious, but still the vocals are really good and the musicians are skilled. Good enough for me.
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26.05.2012 - 23:34
Tristus Scriptor
Rancid Reviewer
Checked it out due to this review. I personally love it! The progressive parts don't throw me off, but keep me interested. I'm just one of those guys, hehe. Top notch. Glad to discover them. Thanks Doc.
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30.05.2012 - 09:45
Susan
Smeghead
Well shit. Definitely checking this out. Straight-forward metal but with progressive elements, aggressive and hard-edged yet sometimes "drenched in beautiful guitar melodies." You said all the magic words. And Kelly fucking Carpenter surfaces again. Well hot damn

What took me so long to see this?
----
"A life all mine
Is what I choose
At the end of my days"
--The Gathering "A Life All Mine" from Souvenirs
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