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Canvas Solaris - Cortical Tectonics CD (album) cover

CORTICAL TECTONICS

Canvas Solaris

 

Tech/Extreme Prog Metal

4.05 | 82 ratings

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The T
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
4 stars This is my first CANVAS SOLARIS experience and I can honestly say that it was very pleasing indeed.

The great thing about Cortical Tectonics is that is very technical without sounding pretentious, very difficult to play without sounding inhuman. We can very easily draw a comparison here with another tech- metal band, SPIRAL ARCHITECT. Whereas the latter's music is so ridiculously difficult to play that it seems like it wasn't played by actual human beings, CANVAS SOLARIS' tracks have complexity but in small doses. One's never overwhelmed by technique just for the sake of technique. There's never a section that sounds like it was forced in just to cause a deeper impression. All the passages fit, the difficult and the simple parts work together to create a uniform musical idea.

The riff, of course, is the main star in this album. This is progressive-metal, no doubt about it. At times it gets closer to extreme metal, but generally the pace of the music is middle of the road, with ferocious riffs alternating with quieter passages. All the instruments are played with the utmost level of proficiency. There's not much of a need for keyboards in "Cortical Tectonics". Three instruments, most of the time, manage to create a truly satisfying experience just by themselves.

As with most of this type of albums, sometimes instrumental-only technical records leave me a little bit cold. When I listen to rock and related music, I always need songs, I need some melody. The good thing is that CANVAS SOLARIS is also capable of calmer, more melodic sounds. "Sinusoid Mirage" is a perfect example of that, and it's also the best track in all the album, with its elegant, refined opening that sounds more jazzy than metal.

All in all, a surprisingly enjoyable tech-metal instrumental album that I really recommend to every fan of the genre, and every fan of good progressive music.

The T | 4/5 |

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