THYESTES

A year after their first EP Aberrant Vascular returned with a second EP, Thyestes, continuing from were the five some left off on Actaeon. What a difference a year makes, this EP shows that the band is improving fast and capable of producing very interesting metal.

Stylistically Thyestes is very much in the same vein as Actaeon, but this time the three songs presented here are far more cohesive and well thought out. These songs flow much better than their previous work whilst still retaining a unique feel, primarily due to the very prominent and virtuoso keyboard playing without the virtuoso guitar playing that normally accompanies metal bands with such a line-up. Vocally, Thyestes is much better than Actaeon as well due to the fact that Lumi has dropped his use of death-metal growls, something I felt didn't work at all well.

The band seems to have gelled and the result has been a very impressive EP that leaves the listener wanting to hear what else this band is capable of doing. The music is coherent and powerful, and the songs offer a very strong, doom laden atmosphere created through some intense playing. I suggest in my review for Actaeon that the band should create longer songs to fully explore their ideas, but they have proved that they didn't need to, the songs are about the same length as before but work much better. This EP is well worth listening to and we can only hope that the band produce a full album as I would definitely give that a listen.