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Textures - Silhouettes CD (album) cover

SILHOUETTES

Textures

 

Tech/Extreme Prog Metal

3.62 | 52 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Lezaza
3 stars When I saw the amount of reviews on this record I must say I was surprised. I mean, haven't "Silhouettes" and Textures been around for quite some time now? I remember when "Drawing Circles" was released, it was all the rage in most metal magazines I read at the time(not that many, I admit). But the few here on progarchives who give "extreme"(God, I hate that title so much) metal a proper glance and review it seem to be more focused on the older, classic acts of tech and progressive metal. The newcomers somehow elude the spotlight.

Then again, is "Silhouettes" really an album to sing praises for? Unlike their previous record "Drawing Circles" this one takes an even bigger step in the direction of Meshuggah's polyrhythmical metal, bordering on what is bearable at times. Now this is coming from someone who generally dislikes this brand of metal, so if you love the style of Meshuggah or similar acts I definitely think that you should give Textures a spin or two.

They have branded their musical style "polyrhythmical metal" and unlike "Drawing Circles" where it was intertwined in the music, serving obvious musical purposes, on "Silhouettes" I get the impression they are smearing the polyrhythms there for show, because I cannot for the life of me see how the rhythmics could be considered anything but tasteless on most of the songs("Laments of an Icarus" is a perfect example).

But when the band shines they do so brightly indeed. There are some truly brilliant songs and moments on the album, so while it does not win any extra points for originality and taste it sure does make up for it in spades with either musicianship, power or melody.

Something well worth noting as well is that Textures features one of my favorite voices in metal at the moment, so if you're looking for a great vocalist or are a vocalist yourself who is looking for inspiration, listening to Kalsbeek's will not leave you disappointed.

Silhouettes is a lot like sequels tend to be; it follows one of the better extreme(ugh) metal albums of the early millennium and is bigger, faster and more complex than its predecessor. Yet bigger is not always better and the album looses a lot of soul and passion in its choice to put further emphasis on its progressive and technical side.

A great album for fans of the genre! 3/5

Lezaza | 3/5 |

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