SPIRITUAL MIGRATION

Unadulterated chaos? Check. Tasteless screaming? Check. A million beats per second? Double check. Barely distinguishable from about 2 dozen other bands? Triple check.

This album came highly recommended from a friend of mine, so I had to give it a shot even though tech metal and I do not have a charitable past. Last year, every one was raving about Enslaved: I thought the album was juvenile. I have similar feelings for this album.

Persefone's style features double bass mania with little or no variation, djenty guitars, and really harsh vocals. This describes many, many other bands, and Persefone definitely does nothing to sound different at all. The one exception to this is the fairly good symphonic arrangements that are very strong in the overall mix, and they range from very simple to slightly complex. In other words, they can't save the album.

Not every track on this album is a thumbs-down for me. There are several instrumental songs that are generally slower, more dynamic, and melodic. In fact, there is some piano on these tracks that is quite good. "Zazen Meditation", "Consciousness 1 and 2" and also the "Outro" are all fairly good. I actually enjoyed them,as they do feature some rather interesting chord progressions and musical hooks. However, I really can't overlook the rest of the album. I mean, I'd love to discuss the seemingly profound themes, but I can't understand even one word of the lyrics. Tech metal and I are not friends, and this seals the deal. I was hoping for something along the lines of Sybreed (the one and only tech metal band that I LOVE), but all I got was a giant mess masquerading as music.