PERSEFONE

Prepare your ears, this here is an onslaught of music, relentless constant sound drilling into your ears. This music is not for the faint of heart. Persefone's previous album 'Shin-Ken' blew me away, I didn't think it was a masterpiece, it had its faults, but it showed real promise and, more importantly, a band with intelligent songwriting and a unique sound. This album certainly holds up against its predecessor, but does it surpass it? Is this the glorious masterpiece I was hoping for?

'Flying Sea Dragons' is a nice opening, some harsh vocals and blasting riffs that are sure to please any metal head.

'Mind as Universe' is heavy, harsh, even djent-y at times, with soaring guitar going throughout. It feels a bit chuggy to me and doesn't change enough for me to feel too engaged but is a good song nonetheless.

Now 'The Great Reality' is a different story, we get some clean vocals early, soaring solos and some stunning time changes, this is one of my favorite tracks on the album, the solo at 3:50 is fantastic. But what I find even better is the somber atmospheric relaxed solo that comes in at 4:10 completely changing the tone on this song. at 4:54 it changes again to some sweeping arpeggio's coming in with a full sound at 5:15 AND WHAT A SOUND THIS IS. This continues until the abrupt end.

'Zazen Meditation' starts off with atmospheric noises, birds chirping and some stunning (flute?) work. Keyboards come in at 1:15 and begin to build the song up, soon bass and drums join in. At about 2:00 guitars make their appearance and we have some absolutely stunning melody's, soft and relaxed before the huge sound at 2:45, what a song this is.

It's short lived because 'The Majestic of Gaia' immediately throws us into that intense style of metal seen in previous songs, soaring guitar and harsh vocals start us off before clean vocals and more djent-y guitar (I'm coming to realize this is a reoccurring thing in this album), come in at about 0:50. Harsh vocals come in with sweeping guitar and keyboard, pounding bass, some electronic moments... Is this all too much to handle? It's hard to keep what's going on straight. A spoken word passage leads us into 3:30 where the guitars begin to fly. They have a breakdown (consisting of a lot of things) at 4:35. By 5:40 all the heaviness seems to stop and we're treated to another nice ethereal passage, similar to 'Zazen'. Some clean vocals follow bringing in some more sweeping guitar bring the song to an end.

'Consciousness Pt. 1: Sitting in Silence' has some great bass work on it. It has a nice beat and some interesting rhythms and time signatures. A nice full song here with some great instrumentation.

'Consciousness Pt. 2: A Path to Enlightenment' is a very different monster than the first. An interesting melody to start off the song. A lot of melody's in this song, don't blind or you could miss them, holy cow this is good though! sweeping instruments joining together to make a surprisingly cohesive sound. This is a mostly instrumental song (which is okay in my books). This song, despite its heaviness, thanks in great part to some very evocative keyboard work, sounds quite beautiful in many places. A wonderful keyboard outro makes this song a contender for one of the best songs on the album.

'Inner Fullness' comes in fast and hard containing along with it some spacey sounding keyboards. The vocals sound a little bit like they're verging on metalcore and the riffs are a bit too derivative for me on this one, the interesting keyboards aren't quite enough to save this track, though it is still not a bad track.

'Metta Meditation' is another song that has a fantastic relaxed sound to it, very much needed after the relentless 'Inner Fullness', the guitars and keys combine at 2:50 to create a very ambient sound, very nice indeed.

'Upward Explosion is short and fast, blistering solos fly your way with unrelenting vigor. Despite the length, this is one of the heaviest tracks. They certainly know how to pack a lot of sounds into a short period of time. This isn't my favorite track, there isn't enough variation, but its short so it ends before it would start to grate on me. The spacey atmosphere at the end is nice. Not a bad song, but one that feels a little bit unnecessary on the album, as though it could have just as easily been excluded.

'Spiritual Migration start off with pounding guitar on one side, and soaring guitar solos on the other, a nice balance. Some odd time signatures accompany this song early on. I'm not too fond of the vocals early in this song, but by 3:00 this song begins to pick itself up for me with some great clean vocals. Here I should make a note, the clean vocals on this band are actually very very good, often in the shadows of the harsh vocals but worthy of a mention nonetheless. Some interesting keyboards come in around 5:15 giving the song a spacey atmosphere, really quite nice. Guitar fly's in at 6:40 to return this song to its shredding self. At 7:45 the clean vocals return to sing the last verse before a percussive -> bass -> soundscape outro.

It ties in wonderfully as drums and keyboards open up 'Returning to the Source', some really tight musicianship at the start here with sweeping keys / guitar. Vocals come in around 1:00, really nice sound! Some nice bass work around 2:00 in keep this song chugging along. Keys work to create a nice atmosphere surrounding the extreme music. This song reminds me of 'Shin-ken', really good stuff. Some wonderful guitar work at 3:50, giving some nice variation to the song. 5:30 gives us some really interesting time signatures and some great bass work, this leads into another wonderful moment where the guitar just soars. It feels a little chuggy and djent-y after this (perhaps too much for my tastes) which continues until the songs end.

'Outro' starts off with the sound of water and some gorgeous keys accompanying it. It really is lovely, around 1:20 we get some of the most relaxing piano work I've heard from these guys, and, from songs like 'Zazen' that is a compliment. What an atmosphere at 2:45! It settles back down again as the song fades, this really is a lovely way to end the album!

On the whole I think this is, not a step up, nor a step down for the band, but just moving slightly in different directions. This really is a lovely cd that I would recommend for all fans of extreme metal, or harsh vocals in general. Is it a perfect album? No. I beilieve it has its faults and it does lose steam somewhere around the middle (if only for a short while). Perhaps the band tried to extend to far, they stretched themselves a bit thin and there are times when the album feels just a bit too long for my personal liking and I do feel as though certain songs (Inner Fullness / Upward Explosion) could have been omitted.

That being said, this is a fresh and vastly interesting record with plenty to enjoy. Wonderful musicianship, great vocals, stunning production and more than enough ambition.

A very strong album! (4.25/5)

'Truth Inside The Shades' - Persefone (6/10)

Before developing onward to the potent progressive death metal of their magnum opus 'Core', Andorran metal act Persefone was something fairly different. Something I have liked about this band is their ability to switch up their sound with each album, and on 'Truth Inside The Shades', their sound falls within the realm of keyboard-dense extreme gothic metal. Although the band's technical strength and flair for the dramatic is here early on, Persefone would not visibly reach their potential until a couple of years later.

The sound here is composed of blistering guitar licks rolling drumbeats, symphonic keyboards and raspy growls. The song 'The Whisper Of Men' aptly describes the direction the band takes here. Galloping riffs and heaviness abound for much of the song, but there is always room made for a few acoustic respites, in which some clean vocals take a showcase. For all intents and purposes, the sound is quite powerful, if perhaps a little unoriginal. However, while Persefone will certainly draw comparisons for the likes of a great many symphonic metal bands, their complex and energetic approach is laudable.

Where the sound of Persefone starts to grow weak is in the band's unabating focus on keyboards. Although keyboards are a staple for virtually all symphonic or progressive metal bands, the sheer amount of weight the keyboards have in the mixing here makes the music here sound somewhat cheesy, made no better by the fact that the keyboard tones are fairly weak. That being said, the musical skills of keyboardist Miguel Espinoza are not in question, but there is the sense even a minute into the second track that Persefone could have done alot better with a more guitar-centered sound.

'Truth Inside The Shades' is my least favourite of the works that Persefone has released, but that is no shame to them; they would only improve from here on, and later release 'Core', a truly excellent album of progressive death metal. For the sake of the band's debut however, 'Truth Inside The Shades' has some great moments, but the effect gets lost in the cheese.

'Shin-Ken' - Persefone (7/10)

The third album by the Andorran progressive metallers Persefone shows a steep development in the band's presentation. With my introduction to the band being through the band's second work 'Core', it is difficult not to compare the two, but for the first time, Persefone appears to have finally achieved a production value that properly showcases their talents as a band. Sound like a somewhat more extreme version of Symphony X or Dream Theater with 'Shin-Ken', Persefone appears to have changed up their sound to accommodate the less underground approach, and while it may lack the same strength as 'Core', Persefone has conjured another great album with 'Shin-Ken'.

An album notably themed with Far East and oriental motifs, 'Shin-Ken' adopts many traits that one would typically find in most concept albums. A running sense of musical flow, recurring musical ideas, and an epic scope of ambition fuels Persefone here. Certainly a promising set-up by any standard, but in their transition to a more typical prog metal sound, they do seem to have lost part of what I originally found so endearing in them. Instead of the melancholic riffs and dark, complex compositions that I first heard Persefone play on 'Core', things are much more typical of mainline prog metal. This will not necessarily be a bad thing for all listeners, but as someone who really enjoyed their heavier death metal sound, it would have been nice to hear a little more edge from these guys.

The more streamlined nature of 'Shin-Ken' aside, Persefone does some great things with this modified style. Finally now through some solid production standards, one can hear the band play heavily, softly and everything in between without the muffling effect the weaker production values had in the past. The heavy parts feel somewhat tame here, although Persefone is a big winner when it comes to technical moments. The band is common to kick into a burstfire keyboard solo or soulful guitar lead at the peak of their intensity on 'Shin- Ken', then lapse into a mellow section. As has been typical for these guys, Persefone writes and performs their mellow moments with great beauty. Although some of the interlude pieces here feel somewhat unnecessary to the overall flow of the record, 'Shin-Ken's strength lies in the moments where they let the melody take over.

All in all, Persefone's 'Shin-Ken' is a winner, if not the glorious masterpiece other listeners have made it out to be. New wave keyboards, guitar solos, heavy riffs and interludes aplenty give Persefone a big resonance with the Dream Theater fan inside of me, but for all of its grand improvements, I am still not certain that Persefone moved in the right direction with 'Shin-Ken'.

'Core' - Persefone (8/10)

Hailing from the tiny European nation of Andorra, this tourism hub would not be the first place someone would expect great progressive death metal to be born. Regardless, here is Persefone, an Andorran act that certain leaves no stone unturned when it comes to their musical vision and ambition. The second album of this band as well as my first introduction to the music of Persefone, 'Core' has proved to be an excellent find; a deep and complex journey of progressive extreme metal that screams 'epic' in every sense of the word. Suffice to say however, the album takes quite a few listens before one is able to truly appreciate the scope of it.

From the track listing alone, one can tell that this is not your typical death metal record. At three tracks each over twenty minutes in length, one can expect a foray into epic compositions with 'Core'. In terms of how well the band actually does this, I was pleasantly surprised. Often, I have been disappointed by bands that promise great things, and fail to deliver. While 'Core' may not have the perfection I would associate with a masterpiece, each track is wrought with incredible musical ideas. The band's sound is rooted in melodic death metal, at times sounding like a rawer version of Opeth. Throughout the course of one of these tracks, the listener is transported through a variety of different moods, each contributing to the mythical story the album seeks to tell.

Of particular surprise are the great female vocals here, which pop up several minutes into the album. Wonderfully harmonized, they provide an unexpected respite from the thrashy heaviness of the heavier segments. The death metal moments are done with almost as much success as the mellow parts however, although it does feel as if the rather lacking production of the album deters from what would otherwise have been a consistently stunning listen. Although the somewhat lo-fi studio work is typical of most underground metal and doesn't always hurt the product, the complexity of 'Core' doesn't lend well to being conveyed through anything less than clear production.

Another issue here is the fact that while Persefone makes good use of the track time for each song, each piece doesn't feel so much like a structured composition as it does a stream of great musical ideas, flowing one after the other. There are undoubtedly attempts to provide a sense of cohesion (especially in the first track, 'Sanctuary') but while all excellent pieces, they often feel scattered as compositions. The slight disorganization aside however, this does not stop 'Core' from being a consistently intriguing listen.

A fantastic piece of progressive death metal, and as much a grower as any other album you fill find in its genre; Persefone's 'Core' is an excellent concept album that begs not just a handful of listens, but a long lasting experience.

What these guys from Andorra have been able to accomplish on this Shin Ken is incredible. I don't think I can recall another album as violent and sometimes even brutal as this one and yet at the same time so accessible and easy to listen to.

I've read of comparisons to Opeth but in my opinion the two have not much in common. Where Opeth is slow-paced and atmospheric, with arpeggios and clean vocals to build up a sort of evil feel, Persefone is fast and brutal, with classic metal guitar and keys solos, Vocals are also very different. Persefone's are higher-pitched and sit half way between death and black metal. They actually sound a lot like Chuck Schuldiner. What they do have in common is a passion for extreme music and long tracks, as well as the incredibly high quality of their output. You can't really categorize Persefone and their musical offer. They sometimes have something from Meshuggah but are way more accessible and less djent and overall sound more classic progressive rock. This looks like the perfect mix between brutality and accessibility. Many have tried, but few managed to find the right balance. Persefone lead this list.

The biggest quality of Persefone is the aforementioned ability of sounding very heavy, both instrumentally and vocally, and yet so melodic. Death metal vocals, even some black metal passages here and there, and still after just one listen you'll find yourself humming riffs and solos. Another great quality of Shin Ken is its variety. The album is not a monolithic block of violence, you definitely won't get bored, as often happens with this kind of music. The pace varies a lot, you'll find clean vocals, symphonic breaks, acoustic parts, all perfectly written and executed.

Considering I am giving 5 stars to this, you can be sure the whole album is top notch but songs like Death before dishonour, Purity and the two masterpieces Kusanagi and Shin-Ken deserve a special mention.

If you like it heavy and are not scared of extreme vocals, go buy this album. It's amazing what incredible peaks some extreme bands are reaching nowadays. This is the future. Hop in.

Shin-Ken is the 3rd full-length studio album by Andora based progressive metal act Persefone. The album was released in July 2009 by Soundholic Records.

Dream Theater were a big influence on Persefone´s sound on the band´s first two albums, but while the influence from Dream Theater still pops up from time to time, I think Symphony X ( especially the keyboard work on Shin- Ken), Opeth, Edge of Sanity and this time around also the Swedish melodeath of In Flames are more obvious influences. Take a listen to a song like Purity. That´s like listening to the mellow acoustic part of Opeth playing over a Symphony X piano theme with Dan Swanö singing. I realize some might be thinking that Persefone is a clone band then, but don´t worry because that´s far from the truth. The many different influences are combined into something that thankfully sounds unmistakably like Persefone. I´ll label the music eclectic progressive metal with extreme metal vocals. The vocals vary between high pitched and raw/ raspy vocals and deeper growling ones. But there are clean vocals on the album too. As mentioned above lead vocalist Marc Martins Pia has a pretty similar voice to the voice of Dan Swanö, which means that it´s warm and pleasant to listen to. The vocal melodies are actually very strong too. Compared to the mammoth 20+ minutes tracks on Core (2006), the tracks on Shin-Ken are much shorter and more compact. Some seque into each other to form longer concepts though, but none are as elaborate and epic as the tracks on Core. There are some really impressive tracks here like Kusanagi though so don´t expect this to be simple vers/ chorus structured music. The cover version of Sword of The Warrior by Cacophony that ends the album is also greatly enjoyable.

The production is the best yet on a Persefone album and the issues I had with the sound production on the first two albums are almost erased here. The keyboards are still a bit too high in the mix for my taste, but I´m sure that´s an aquired taste.

Shin-Ken is another great album by Persefone and the fact that the band opted to make their songs shorter and more compact compared to the songs on Core is not a bad idea at all. I find Shin-Ken recommendable for fans of harder edged progressive metal with extreme metal vocals.

Core is the 2nd full-length studio album by Andora based progressive metal act Persefone. The album was released in August 2006 by Soundholic Records.

The band´s debut album Truth Inside the Shades (2004) showed an adventurous approach to writing music, but Core takes the band´s many great ideas even further. The 70 minute album consists of only 3 tracks that each exceed 20 minutes. All 3 tracks are very complex in structure and filled with challenging playing, tempo- and time signature changes and a generally intricate approach to songwriting. The music is still very keyboard/ synth heavy but while Dream Theater and Symphony X are still a very obvious influences, the music on Core is also influenced by both melodic black and melodic death metal. I´m reminded of both Opeth and especially Edge of Sanity at times. The riffing is generally heavier and more raw than on most progressive metal releases but it´s the vocals that make comparisons to harder edged genres valid. The main vocal approach is raspy but there are growling and clean vocals in the music too. In addition to those vocal styles there are some female vocals in the music too that reminds me a bit of Anneke van Giersbergen ( The Gathering). The female vocals give the music a goth metal elements in addition to the many other styles represented on the album. There´s a nice development in the songs, and even though there are many different sections and riffs in each song, there´s a coherence between the sections which means that nothing seem awkwardly placed. That´s a rare achivement in songs this long.

The production on Core is much better than the sound on Truth Inside the Shades, but there is still room for improvement in that department. I still think the keyboards a bit too high in the mix.

Core is an excellent progressive metal album, and while there are things on the album that I´m not too fond of ( the production could have been better), it´s seldom that I´m entertained all the way through a 70 minute long album, like it´s the case here. A 4 star rating is deserved. Core is very recommendable to fans of epic progressive metal who can tolerate extreme vocals.

Truth Inside the Shades is the debut full-length studio album by Andora based progressive extreme metal act Persefone. The album was released in December 2004.

The music on the album is a combination of genres like progressive metal, melodic death metal, melodic black metal and power metal. I´ve chosen to label the music progressive extreme metal as none of the tags above really explain how the music sounds. Acts like Dream Theater, Symphony X, Opeth and Edge of Sanity are obvious references if you ask me, but Persefone are not content with sounding like a clone. They mix different ideas and styles into a sound of their own. The vocals are mostly raspy but occasional growls and clean vocal parts appear too. The keyboards/ synths are very high in the mix and the music is generally very synth heavy. We´re treated with tempo and time signature changes, dual guitar and keyboard runs and high standard musicianship. The production is not that good though and while I find the sound tolerable, the production pose a problem for me. The sound is kind of disjointed and the different instruments sound disconnected in the soundscape.

Truth Inside the Shades is a very interesting debut album by Persefone. Especially the production pose a problem though but I still find the album recommendable for fans of the above mentioned acts. 3 stars are deserved.

I discovered Persefone with this release and I felt very stupid for not having listened to this band previously. Persefone's music is a mix of death metal with heavy growls and 'ripped- off' vocals(I call the vocals that are lighter than the brutal ones and remind black metal) combined with beautiful,melodic music with touches of heaviness of course. I totally disagree that are similar to Opeth.The Swedish band delivers an atmospheric and melancholic sound full of complexity surrounded by a very dark veil. Persefone are not so dark and they create atmosphere but with a different way. So what about the music? The disc is full of Japanese-sound keyboards.I think that the concept of this album has to do with the eastern country(you can figure it out by the name of the album and by the bame of many tracks). There are many interludiums which totally fit with the album. Each interludium has to do with a specific book(book of earth, book of fire etc) and maybe it is related to an eastern philosophy. Whatever, the first track 'Rise To Fall'(I exclude the intro) is amazing.Technical and rapid,edgy riffs,a death metal element, combined with melody and progression.The keyboards enter at 0:51 and after a brutal growl crushes which is followed by the Japanese-style in the background. The clean voice that accompanies the song is actually good.The end of the song is perfect and guess,again the keybords close the track. Next song emphatically called 'Death before dishonour', initiates quite slow but then there is a rage of guitar and drum work along with angry growls and some american death metal influences after the second minute.Again,keyboards play a huge role in the music especially at 4:46 where the Asian sound appears again. The drumming is furious during the song.The guys know how to handle their instruments,that's for sure. After the interludium, comes 'The Endless Path'.The beginning shows Swedish death metal influences. After a catchy minute(from first to second minute) the dark tone returns and at 3:46 it is the time for the keyboard section accompanied with impeccable melodic guitars. The instrumental part ends at 5:35 and the song ends with heavy drumming. After the 'Wind Book', 'Purity' follows. It is an emotional,slow song that has only clean vocals.It is embellished of course with instrumental parts(mainly solos). The clean vocals are very nice in this composition. If you hear that a song is called 'Rage Stained Blade' what would you expect? Oh,yes it is till now the most intense song of the disc,with its mellower breaks. Persefone are a progressive band, not a pure death metal one. 'Kusanagi' is maybe the best song of the album. An interesting start with drumming rythm and hard riffs which suddenly retreat to the piano melody at 2:35 which is accompanied by clean vocals. Then the edgy riffs return along with modern keyboards, combination that reminds me Evergrey. It is time for brutal vocals which continue till 5:35.Then, some soft music,a harsh break,solos from both guitar and keyboards, some 'ripped-off' vocals and powerful drumming end this song. 'Shin Ken Part 1' is in the same mood as previous songs.Keyboards,hardcore(not in terms of the music genre)drums,aggressive vocals and solos.It is a nice song though. 'Shin Ken Part 2' is the mellower brother of the previous track. Slow tempo,brilliant piano work,clean vocals and exceptional melodic arrangements. 'Japanese poem' is a sentimental outro which mainly consists of piano/keyboards work. In retrospect, one of the best works for this genre in this year and nothing similar and copy- paste to things that I've heard till now. I would prefer only brutal and clean vocals and not the 'ripped-off' ones but ok. 4.5 stars, with the rounding 5 stars.

Is it per-se-fo-ny or is it per-se-fon? Before listening that's all that seemed to be going through my head. But as I played Core that immediately dissipated and was replaced by sheer astonishment in that a little band from Andorra is equal to great progressive bands of our time.

This cd seems to take a lot of influence from many different bands which leads to a problem at first. Usually bands have their own sound and use influences to create their original sound. This band seems more so a compilation of different sounding bands somewhat tweaked and edited to their desire. At one point I found myself going, This is Opeth, isn't it? But of course it is not. Many of the beats, sounds, and melody's seem somewhat familiar to me which also leads to this idea. But if the sounds really are original then it is composed brilliantly and deserves a lot of credit.

The vocal styles are easily differentiated between 3 sections with one person doing black metal vocals, another doing death metal vocals, and finally a women doing soft melodic singing each with small variations. The black metal and death metal vocals go back and forth in a waltz throughout songs creating a beauty not found very often. The female vocals always go in tangent with the flow of the song becoming very soft and docile which at first is nice but is somewhat annoying because it is the only time it appears. Each of the male singers, or just the one guy, also has a lighter mellower voice similar to Opeth and Edge of Sanity.

The cd is composed fairly well with parts accenting each other and every instrument adding to the mood of the current situation as it sways. Though with the addition of the softer parts one cannot help but wonder if they did not know how to transition that part so lets just have it fade out then pick it up again later. This is not a big complaint just one thing that comes up. Also an annoying thing is that it has 3 songs each 23 min long. Now I am not normally against long songs but when you have a transition that is dead silent for 6 seconds and then completely feels like a new song...then it needs to be a new song or maybe part 2.

This gets 4/5 because it could become better and I am extremely excited to see what they come up with. But if it was 5/5 then it would be equal to In a Flesh Aquarium and Imaginary Sonic Scape and it is not.