PELOPIA

From the first listen of Aberrant Vascular's third demo 'Pelopia', it becomes clear that this Finnish self-proclaimed 'operatic avant-garde metal' band has come a long way from their origins and the first release 'Actaeon'. While I was not given the warmest first impression of the band, it was clear to me from the start that the band had alot of potential and could easily tap into it, given a little polishing in their craft. A couple of years later however, it is still evident that the band still suffers from quite a few existing issues that continues to make their product a rather lukewarm offering.

The most noticeable improvement is that of the vocal melodies. Vladimir Lumi instantly impressed me with his great operatic tenor voice from the first demo onwards, but the lines he sang never really felt like they complimented the rest of the mix. Here, there is quite a bit more variety to his style, as well as a dynamic ranging from creepy whispers to shouts to the typical opera. Each song feels better put-together than before, although there are still issues haunting Aberrant Vascular's sound.

Chief among these is still the tinny and cheap sounding synths that are apparently meant to emulate a symphony. Unfortunately, it rarely works. 'Pelopia' has alot more electronic stuff going on than I ever heard on 'Actaeon', even going as far as to invoke some industrial moments. While the greater variety here is good, the constant use of electronics takes away from any organic component of the music. A problem that 'Pelopia' has that wasn't evident at the beginning of their recording careers is the dreadful drum machine. While the drums are hidden away at the back of the mix enough to make them somewhat harmless, it only contributes to the rather cold feeling I get from the music.

As always, the vocals of Lumi are the highlight of this project, and while there have been some stark improvements made (especially in the first track- also the highlight), 'Pelopia' remains a very mixed result.