ABERRANT VASCULAR

Continuing from their unfulfilled first demo 'Actaeon', the Finnish 'operatic avant-garde metal' act Aberrant Vascular returns with another brief dive into their unique, yet flawed music. A band that hasn't ever truly impressed me beyond the charismatic voice of their vocalist and a unique spin on symphonic metal, I haven't had the best luck with this band, and 'Thyestes' is scarcely different. Although quite a bit better than the first demo, the second 'Thyestes' shows the band continuing to struggle with many issues in their sound, although it is certainly worth a single listen for the more adventurous metalhead out there.

Here, a listener can hear elements of electronic, industrial and symphonic music thrown into this dark metal soundscape. What I described as 'gothic horror' music in the first review continues to be true here; operatic tenor Vladimir Lumi's booming voice overtop tinny keyboards and tritones aplenty does give the feeling of a theatrical darkness. Unfortunately, this sound passes as being a bit cheesy, in no small part due to the rather cheap sounds of the keyboard (a running issue with the band) and the intentionally weird sounding vocal effects the band employs here.

While certainly avant-garde in nature, there isn't enough here to digest over the course of many listens. However, there is some cool stuff that is worth listening to on 'Thyestes'. Primarily, it is the voice of singer Vladimir Lumi who steals the show, although the guitar work is also more prevalent here in it's technicality. Unfortunately, the sense of improvement does not carry over to the songwriting itself, which still feels far too over the place to give a satisfying experience.

Another disappointing release from Aberrant Vascular.

From the first listen of Aberrant Vascular's third demo 'Pelopia', it becomes clear that this Finnish self-proclaimed 'operatic avant-garde metal' band has come a long way from their origins and the first release 'Actaeon'. While I was not given the warmest first impression of the band, it was clear to me from the start that the band had alot of potential and could easily tap into it, given a little polishing in their craft. A couple of years later however, it is still evident that the band still suffers from quite a few existing issues that continues to make their product a rather lukewarm offering.

The most noticeable improvement is that of the vocal melodies. Vladimir Lumi instantly impressed me with his great operatic tenor voice from the first demo onwards, but the lines he sang never really felt like they complimented the rest of the mix. Here, there is quite a bit more variety to his style, as well as a dynamic ranging from creepy whispers to shouts to the typical opera. Each song feels better put-together than before, although there are still issues haunting Aberrant Vascular's sound.

Chief among these is still the tinny and cheap sounding synths that are apparently meant to emulate a symphony. Unfortunately, it rarely works. 'Pelopia' has alot more electronic stuff going on than I ever heard on 'Actaeon', even going as far as to invoke some industrial moments. While the greater variety here is good, the constant use of electronics takes away from any organic component of the music. A problem that 'Pelopia' has that wasn't evident at the beginning of their recording careers is the dreadful drum machine. While the drums are hidden away at the back of the mix enough to make them somewhat harmless, it only contributes to the rather cold feeling I get from the music.

As always, the vocals of Lumi are the highlight of this project, and while there have been some stark improvements made (especially in the first track- also the highlight), 'Pelopia' remains a very mixed result.

A somewhat disappointing first impression from this Finnish dark metallers, Aberrant Vascular's small discography has been met with mixed acclaim. When listening, I can readily tell why; the band plays a unique style of symphonic metal that is very experimental. Although there are typical elements of symphonic metal here such as operatic vocals and symphonic keyboards at work, the way in which the multiple elements is put together is quite different from what I might expect from a typical band in the genre. It's less-than-generic approach aside, Aberrant Vascular's first demo 'Actaeon' is a somewhat cheap impression of the band, managing to get the avant-garde and gothic horror vibe across, but with a lack of melody, variety, and a generally cheap sounding recording across the board.

The music of Aberrant Vascular is fairly dark, obviously taking a hint from goth metal bands. Unfortunately, the dark and theatrical feel that the music attempts to get across is severely curtailed by the cheap nature of the execution, in particular; the symphonic keys. While obviously meant to emulate a real orchestra, the synths used (while not played poorly by any measure) have a tone to them that makes 'Actaeon' sound too often like the soundtrack to a 'haunted house' level of some classic video game. The instruments are rarely very technical, instead leaving the spotlight to operatic tenor Vladimir Lumi, who has a great and powerful voice.

Saving a few second pause in the music, there is really no telling apart the two songs. There is a lack of any memorable melody and the songs feel as if they lack cohesion as individual compositions. A disappointing introduction to this band, although their unique sound does lend itself to the possibility the band could make something much stronger out of it, with a little polish.

Right. Too my ears this interesting first EP sounds like a 'modernised' and 'innovated' approach to technical black metal. The guitars and the overall atmosphere might not relate directly to what someone would perceive as black metal, but the totally avant-garde approach, the typical blast-beat breaks, short chaotic intervals and the (indeed competent) operatic vocals bring into mind bands like Arcturus, Covenant, Therion, Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir. I could not easily categorise AV into prog metal, as there are no distinct elements in relation to classic 'prog' - however innovation is present. Heavy guitars interchange with pianos and violins and operatic vocals co-exist with brutal ones.

Both tracks on this EP are quite interesting - possibly this will apply to fans of more extreme metal music. I found the production to be quite neat, although the keyboards and pianos seem to be a bit 'above' the rest. The track that presents the most challenges is Ekpyrosis (from the Greek word that means: the destruction of an item from fire) with many changes in rhythm and atmosphere. However, the opening track (more Therion-oriented) has also its moments - the most interesting being a section with beautiful operatic vocals accompanied only by keyboards. Certainly, and judging from the fact that this is their first EP, AV show a potential for more complete albums in the future.

Worth giving it a try - especially for fans of Arcturus and related bands.

Progressive Black Metal? Possibly...

The EP starts on a high note. The opener really grabs your attention and as before I'm really impressed by Rych's keys. "Seulement Pour Les Alienes " delivers a pleasingly bombastic extreme sort of metal without ever taking it too far. By and large this is echoed in the following two tracks barring some moments that would have me using bombastic in a pejorative rather than complimentary connotation. Also, there are a few points when the music loses my interest sounding a bit samey, before I'm snapped into attention a few moments later. As a starting point for a band this is very promising. They have a very interesting style; if they can refine their technique some I see great potential for this band in the future. As for the present, Thyestes isn't bad, it isn't great. It's an album hovering around mediocrity that may breakthrough to good territory depending on your taste. The album is free to download though, so there's no reason not to take it on a test drive.

As I write this review right now, I can say with no remorse that this is by a million miles the finest EP that I have heard. So by now you are probably realizing that I find this to be a brilliant piece of music, which is very true. The reason that this EP is ranked so highly in my book is the fact that it is a frenzied operatic metal experience, but is still incredibly thought-out and carefully planned which makes for a stellar combination of intriguing hardcore metal music.

The first track, "Seulement Pour les Alienes" opens up with an almost spacey feel to it, until the ripping guitars and smashing keyboards blaze through the bulk of the song, which ends in high style with a spectacular display operatic skill. "Ishi" is hailed by many, myself included, as being their best song. The reasons? It is just simply the most intricate piece of metal I have heard, very delicately constructed yet powerful beyond belief. The same style keyboards and guitars tear open the song, but instead of the opera styled vocals, a hard-edged power chorus is featured. The singing just might be what gives this song its power! "Meisekiyume", the final track, is sometimes overshadowed by the brilliance of "Ishi", but this is a very strong work as well. The amazing intro gives way to the same swirling effect that started out the two previous songs, but then a growling vocal mixed with an angelic background style is thrown in and the song starts to get really crazy. Towards the ending of the song (about a minute remaining, estimated) the sheer power of the drumming can finally be heard over the thrash of the guitars for the first time in the album, and it sounds like no other metal drumming has before. A great way to close an excellent EP.

I really hope that this will not be Aberrant Vascular's, because judging by the improvement from their first EP (which is nothing to scoff at, either) to this most recent work, which is far and away the best EP I have heard, they show such incredible promise for a smashing full-length album debut.

I give it 4 stars, only taking a star off because of the lack of time. If this was a full album, with songs like these 3, there would be no doubt of a 5 star rating. Brilliant and complex avant-metal, highly recommended for anybody, especially for fans of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and such.

One thing people should know is that this and their first EP are both available for free download from the band's website, and this is supported by the band themselves so it is perfectly legal. Do not miss out!

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.

This EP starts off with a few very unusual sound effects before diving straight into the heavy metal side of the band. Throughout both songs here, both of about 5 minutes in length, you get a lot of changes in the flow of the music, from fast and crushing metal to slower keyboard dominated parts. Over it all is the Operatic vocals of Lumi, interspersed with a few lines performed with a Death-metal style growl. The band definitely proves to be very interesting but both songs seem to sound very much the same with little variation in style and feel between them. I also find that the death-metal growls don't particularly work too well here, and whatever it is Lumi is trying to say is unrecognizable. The great strength of this band is its keyboard player, Sarator Rych, who shows a great ability to lead this heavy and eclectic sounding music on his instrument, and providing the only solos here. The rest of the band sound very competent at this without sounding particularly special.

I feel the band could benefit by extending the songs slightly so that they can explore their ideas better but overall this is an interesting EP that leaves you wondering what the band could do over a full album. Rather short at 10 minutes but decent enough, I'll give this 2.5 stars as something people should at least try if you have no problem with operatic vocals or death-metal growls, rounded down to 2 because it is very short and clearly has some space for improvement.

Aberrant Vascular create a brand of highly symphonic yet extremely heavy prog-metal. Take an extreme metal, and add to them layers of bombastic, symphonic keys, and you'll have a good estimate of what AV sounds like. The musicians all seem to have tremendous talent, especially the keyboardist who really blew me away with his frantic style almost reminding me of a modern Keith Emerson. However, sometimes they seem to go too over the top for anybody to really appreciate. They try to fit an epic into a 5 min song, and the results sound preposterous and unfocused.

Also, the vocals pose a huge problem for this and probably many other listeners. Lumi sings two ways, overblown operatic and death metal growls. His operatic singing really strikes a nerve with me. His voice becomes rather emotionless when singing like this, and it tends to be rather samey. Then when you get to hear his death metal side you'll realize he's not very good at it. It's a dead end no matter wear you look.

If they could learn to streamline their ideas and maybe exercise in restraint, Aberrant Vascular could have a bright future with a different singer. For this EP though, it has a few good licks mainly in the name of the keyboardist, but other than that isn't worth your time.