In this volume we will meet Elder with a new work, the amazing italians Infall with their modern math metal standard and the Induction with their melodic symphonic power metal.

 

ELDER

 

Elder is an american band that made a very long road, and now is based in Berlin. Their new work is “Innate passage” out in Europe with Stickman Records and in North America with Armageddon Shop.

Their vision of music is very peculiar, they are a psych band with a special blend of sound, taking something from the old days of psych and linking to new psych sensations. An important part of their sound is prog rock and his marriage with their psych side. Elder has become one of the most important band in the genre since their debut 15 years ago and this sixth work is maybe the most important. In their early days they was more heavier, a kind of heavy psych, and now their prog side is more important, with wonderful moments in special songs like “Catharsis” maybe one of their best tracks.

The band is playing like if they were on a musical satori, they fill every space with something perfectly cut out of ancient wisdom, a third eye in music that’s a revelation in every note they play. Isn’t easy to meet a band with a musical confidence and such a warm, full and round sound like Elder.

There are moments that sound like a sky opening after a storm, like an alignment between ourselves and the planets, riffs chasing each other on the meadows of other planets within us. «Innate passage» it’s actually a passage, a crack that makes us see other worlds that are inside our brain, music that improves those who listen to it as a positive initiation.

The work of the organ, the drum that constantly pushes on the rippling water from below, sense of psychic well-being, a security of beauty and music that elevates, this is the music of Elder, a group that is rising to the sky disc after disc and this is maybe their most important.

They don’t have to prove anything to anyone, just make music for them and for those who accompany them in one of the best journeys ever seen in heavy and thinking music. Listen to this progressive wind.

INFALL

Infall are an Italian band from Arona in the province of Novara and they make devastating music between hardcore and mathcore, like some more creative and abysmal Dillinger Escape Plan, very fast and with incredible melodic lines. – Far – it is their third long-distance record and is produced by Controcanti Produzioni, Flames Don’t Judge Records, Freash Outbreak Records, Itawak Records.

This latest work of theirs is the heaviest they have ever done, aggressive, rough and more extreme than the previous ones. The previpous record “Silent,” now remastered on their bandcamp, was one of the best heavy music records released in recent times in Italy and had put the band firmly on the map. This one “Far”will propel them even further forward, thanks to its perfect blend of modern hardcore, mathcore, grind and synthetic killer jazz. The record chronicles the journey of a man who loses his wife and then decides to take his own life because the emptiness is too powerful. The group from Arona has the stigmata of powerful bands with so much to say, with an inspiring and always poised sound that really gives so much away, and each passage is totally unexpected by the listener.

The music is beautifully composed and comes very close to their live performance, which must be devastating. It is not easy or common to hear work with these guitar lines that sound like laser beams, while the drums and bass travel the space above us and the vocals, the vocals, dig into us in an impressive way.

Of course there is Converge, Botch and Dillinger Escape Plan but above all there is Infall who in some ways can be considered the heirs, what an ugly term but it’s to make a point, of The Secret unforgettable group that resonates here but it’s not just them that resonates here, it’s a certain way of thinking about humanity and putting it to music, with excellent mastering by Kurt Ballou who always manages to capture the best things in groups that like Converge creatively.

A hauntingly beautiful record that hurts and bleeds.

INDUCTION

“Born form fire” on Atomic Fire Records is the second record by the Czech band Induction, which offers a very pleasant blend of symphonic power metal. The group was born in the Czech Republic but currently lives and works in Germany, and is under contract with Atomic Fire Records, the subsidiary of Nuclear Blast Records. Induction’s sound is a mixture of very melodic heavy metal and classical music, all in a very cinematic and powerful way. Lately many power and heavy metal bands have chosen the path of meeting classical music, and Induction are among the bands that do it best, thanks to their great sense of melody.

The beautiful cover art is designed by one of the common denominators of this new course of power metal, namely Peter Sallai, already at work with Sabaton and Powerwolf, two bands that can be traced back to the sound of Induction, although the Czechs are different since they have less brutality in their sound and more technique to expend.

The record unravels very well, telling epic stories and taking the listener’s heart high, keeping him or her attentive and attached to the music at all times.

At some junctures, the band is even close to a certain form of pop metal done with class, and it is not easy to keep the right balance in these musical realms, as falling out of style is always around the corner, but they pull it off very well. An important part of their sound is the very vibrant and powerful vocals of Craig Cairns, assisted very well by the rest of the band. “Born from fire” is an album that promises to be a potential bestseller in the power metal field, regarding the numbers we have become accustomed to in recent years.

The Induction possess great potential and they put it all on the field in this record, which also counts sumptuous production.