SILENT ATONEMENT

Listening diary 27th August 2021: Noctis - Silent Atonement (progressive metal, 2011)

One of the most underappreciated albums I know of in progressive metal, mostly due to the band's quick demise after releasing it. These guys fit into Perth's scene nicely, with Simone Dow of Voyager and Ben Mazzarol of Chaos Divine contributing, and elements of both those bands are evident here. It's a passionate, if a bit overlong, look into melancholic metal tropes, bringing together everything from doom to death to folk to songs with no metal at all - the biggest calling card is undeniably Opeth (with some riffs being almost too derivative), but the presence of several styles Opeth never really covered sets this apart. It does drag on for a while, and it wears its influences very clearly, but for passionate progressive metal, this is very underrated.

7.4 (9th listen)

Part of my listening diary from my facebook music blog - www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunction