EMBRYO

ALTESIA is a French progressive metal band founded by Clément DARRIEU in 2017. Once he started to feel confident in his compositions, he built the line-up to best convey his music; This is their 2nd album after an astonishingly mature 'Paragon Circus', prog metal flirting with masters DREAM THEATER, OPETH and his spiritual sons HAKEN and ANATHEMA. This opus also flirts with the pop, funky, jazzy, death and symphonic orchestral trends of LEPROUS by instants, CALIGULA'S HORSE or WILDERUN; great musical amplitude in fact. Themes on assertiveness, forgiveness or detachment and a desire to give musical hope especially in this rather confused time, inventiveness, let's dive in!

"Micromegas" for a romantic-depressive ballad, a slow crescendo, a sinister voice, a violin, an acoustic guitar and a beautiful title to put forward the bucolic atmosphere, very melodic and beautiful introduction to the final spleen par excellence. "Mouth of the Sky" takes off; rhythmic metal prog flirting on the DREAM THEATER at the start, sublime intro anyway! Keyboard solo apart showing the instrumental richness, it goes to djent, black / death metal, the orchestration provided comes and goes influencing the tempo and intensity of the title, Clément and Alexis playing on the HAKEN sound even if it is ALTESIA. "The Remedial Sentence" on a varied, symphonic, almost classical variation; a thundering sharp riff where wind instruments and strings orchestrations set the mood until the jazzy piano-voice break at the MUSE then an escapade in the Zappatian footsteps! Return with riff and keyboards to DEEP PURPLE for a moment before returning to the great DREAM THEATER with a final rock opera hint; the metal guitars recall the signature in the background. "Autumn Colossus" as an ambient melancholy musical interlude; a very smooth track, a slow dreamlike rise on a cool, calm, introspective track; does the guitar solo add a bit of metal meaning to the aggressive or divinatory finale? "Sleep Paralysis" with an explosive title, a little madness, a lot of musical madness with SLEEPYTIME GORILLA MUSEUM, ZAPPA, prog opera, accordion and a break waltz balkan-musette; a deluge of crazy prog- metal-fusion notes; riffs that go all over the place, a throaty song from drummer Yann; title to listen to several times, it is complex, varied, bombastic. "A Liar's Oath" in the tradition of a LEPROUS just for the distinctive voice, on a pop-metal sound full of emotions; we navigate on the last SOEN, on the early HAKENs, a bluffing track that also makes you want to see the group stand out from these tenors.

"Exit Initia" with the centerpiece, the caviar, the meticulous goldsmith's piece following on from "Reminiscence" from the last opus: - "Excipit Omen" and that deluge of sympho-progressive intro DREAM THEATER that sticks to your seat, just listen instead of reading me. - Guidance 'on a jazzy crooner interlude, solo sax, the pink panther needs to behave; another drawer leaves on a fruity keyboard solo then the guitar solo which squirts and we find the intensity of a HAKEN. - "Horus' Crown" subtly shares on ZAPPA and his colorful research; the instrumental gives way to the different actors. - "Apogee of a King" with the majestic piano sequence, more pompous melodic finale where Clément's voice acts as a catalyst; a summary title where each of the musicians gives the best of themselves ... and it's over despite the sound of the seagulls.

ALTESIA has released a trap album, stuffed with obvious varied sounds, distinctive styles, showing the extent of his musical knowledge in metal as well as djent, death, baroque opera and jazz. This diversity can slow down because of so much variety, it can also intoxicate but will not leave you indifferent. Plunged late into this musical bath and only offering you my column at the beginning of the year, I hope it will allow you to follow me in my literary immersion and confirm that you have to listen, research, listen to fall on the rare pearl which sat enthroned near you without knowing it; in short, a must.

This month they're releasing a new album, so I figured I would review their second album whilst I have the opportunity.

While I liked Paragon Circus, I felt like it could've been a bit more. Glad that their sophomore album of Embryo ended up delivering on that front with some very great progressive metal jams.

While they do keep their sound off of their debut record, I find Altesia here to be coming in their own element more often than not now with this record, especially since it sounds a lot more original than the previous record. Paragon Circus did have a tendency of sounding kinda just sounding like a softer version of Dream Theater, but now on Embryo they have a much more grounded direction than just that. They sound confident to me, which I like.

They still do sound like Haken copycats still though on occasion. That is still something I think is holding the band back from being truly amazing.

But, even despite that, the band still creates a lot of fun music here. I noticed they upped a more retro prog flair on here on occasion, especially for songs like The Remedial Sentence and Exit Initia. A lot more keyboards on here than you'd expect, which works very well since I love moog synths in my metal.

I also find the epic of Exit Initia to be much better than Cassandra's Prophecy. Cassandra's Prophecy was great, don't get me wrong, but Exit Initia just feels more like a prog epic. It probably has something to do with it feeling like it has a much more proper beginning, middle, and end, which I think most great progressive rock/metal epics have. Would I consider the track the next Supper's Ready? No. But do I still think it's great? Absolutely!

Overall, despite still having a bit too much Haken-isms that hold it back, I found Embryo a much more enjoyable time, and it gets me very eager to see how the band improves on their next record.

Best tracks: The Remedial Sentence, Exit Initia

Worst tracks: N/A