Sunday, November 24, 2013

Preludium: Redemption Reviewed - Full Streaming!

Tonight's offering is Poland's Preludium and their fourth album Redemption released by Transcending Obscurity from India. Having reviewed one of this label’s releases in the past, I was more than interested in hearing what this offering was all about.

What is on the altar to night is a mixed bag of black and death metal, with a modern flair. These guys being Polish, the obvious comparison is of course Behemoth. And from the little I have heard of Behemoth I would think that this comparison is spot on. I would like to call this Behemoths dirty sibling, they are similar but not twins. And Preludium has a way dirtier sound, and that is what I like about them.

The music consists of a lot of fast parts, the drummer gets a real work out, but a lot of nice head banning friendly parts as well. The double bass playing is almost constant, this dude must have some serious ADHD issues, but then again drumming is a good way to get out that excess energy. I think it is very cool that the tempo goes up and down a lot, always keeping you guessing. These guys really like to throw in some interesting stuff from time to time. On the second track Altars of Redemption we get a little break with just bass, drums and some ambient noises.  This is a great build up and spooky as hell I must add. The riff that comes after is a beast, this is a perfectly crafted part, the build-up is just magic. On the third song we are treated to another really neat little thing, it is around the 3 min mark the guitars slows down with a little disharmonic thing and the drummer just goes nuts with the blast beats. I think it is little things like this that makes this album stick out. I mean these guys are not re-inventing the style but they are keeping it interesting.

Another band that comes to mind is Belphegor, Preludium have the same uncanny ability to create really creepy atmospheres. And like Belphegor, Preludium likes to add some eastern sounding melodies. So yeah there is a boat load of tremolo picking riffs and minor chord and power chord chugging. I really dig these guys use of disharmonics, this gives the album a real sinister feel. Ok all black metal albums have a sinister feel, I would think that I'm not too out of reach by stating that this is an essential part of an black metal album. But when using disharmonics and not only minor key riffs the music gets an even more sinister feel.

The lead work on Redemption is really tasty, nothing over the top or to "showy" I would like to call it elegant, and really fitting the songs. The leads never feel out of place or there just for the sake of them. I really like how the leads sounds like integrated parts of the songs and not something there just to get ticked off. 

Earlier in this review I called this album dirty, and what I mean with that is the production. The production is not bad, just kind of raw for an album releases in 2013. In my opinion this is not a bad thing, since I’m very tired of the super slick digital sounding recordings. That being said, the dominating factor on the soundscape is the drums, unfortunately they are overpowering at times. This is not really a deal breaker, but it is unfortunate since many of the riffs are killer and at times they get lost. The bass drum is way too loud in my opinion. But hey can you ever get too much bass drum, well maybe.

So all in all we have a pretty killer album in Redemption, if you like the Polish or Austrian black/death metal war machines this will be right up you ally!


1.Soul Torment
2.Altars of Redemption
3.Incarnations
4.Root of Suffering
5.Circle of Life
6.The Seven Gates of Hell
7.Destiny of Mortals
8.Arena of Souls
9.Hatred Breeds Suffering
10.Sins of Mankind

transcendingobscurity.bandcamp


Sweden`s Wilhelm Lindh*, "Portuguese by adoption," guitar player,  composer and owner of the Doom / Death Metal band The Gardnerz, reviews here in HeavyHardMetalmania.net. Careful and professional analysis to the music and albums with suggestions of what there is to see and hear ... not to be missed. "The wisdom is found in the extremes, all extreme Metal here!".



No comments:

Post a Comment