THE OUBLIETTE

THE RETICENT is an American band, well there I have it! A fucking good group, there it is! OPETH, DREAM THEATER, KING CRIMSON, a little PORCUPINE TREE, the voice at TEARS FOR FEARS, a little TOOL, 30 '' TO MARS, KATATONIA, a little THE CONTORSIONIST for the worked vocals, a also little of BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME and the worked concept of LEPROUS or HAKEN, it is in any case their 6th album. It's also the story of a disease, Alzheimer's writing down, so it's more than a musical concept; It's beautiful and it's strong, let's face it. Heavy progressive metal, edgy without concession bordering on extreme prog metal, avant-garde de facto.

"Stage 1 - His Name Is Henry" opens this album with a sweet, innocent tone; a little Argentinian music, swing at the start to perfect this feeling; a gradual change of rhythm with percussion, metal riff then organ which suggests doubt in the person suffering from a heavy, debilitating and incurable disease, bringing sadness, anguish and despair; a fairly fresh and playful preamble title that explains what world we are going to live in for an hour. "Stage 2 - The Captive" sounds the fact that Henry is well locked up, hence the death metal deluge symbol of an endless revolt and without return, OPETH must play behind the door; pop art break with a Joe JACKSON sound filled with spleen and melancholy thought, a saxophone space that denotes with the metal guideline, a moment when the patient finds himself resigned; explosive finale in front of the inconceivable truth with brutal fireworks. "Stage 3 - The Palliative Breath" is a break with the understanding of part of his illness, symbolized by a latent acoustic air filled with somber hope, in the vein of one of the best ANATHEMA; there is a warm, well-paced metal-prog break followed by a return to reality with a meditative synth followed by a folk sound; the air is irreparably transformed into infernal metal in the vein of a JUPITER HOLLOW chronicled at the start of the year, a splendid, varied, rich, whirling piece.

"Stage 4 - The Dream" or the dark light of the end of the darkness, a depressive, icy sound, a bit of MY DYING BRIDE, the ubiquitous bass that already reminds me of the great KING CRIMSON with the voice only then in backing vocals, when Henry, sinking into his illness, relives moments of life with his wife in a dream; perhaps the most moving moment; jerky break, drum pads forward to break this dream with the voice of the woman moving away from her thoughts, her memories and crescendo with the input of a plaintive synth, the drums still for a long plaintive rise. Henry realizes the inevitable loss of his memory; various musical voices decorating this rise that the CAVANAGH brothers did so well; moment of the album where we hope, where we lose the man and his landmarks, the musical oxymoron that I adore is there.

"Stage 5 - The Nightmare" radically changes the musical structure, hell is here, we are in black metal, we have to hang on, madness knocks on the door, angelic and evil voices carry our unhappy hero; for that a Dantesque music, sound effect in front of the door of Hell; It's frenzied, it's majestic, it's tortured; Henry is going mad, his body is being taken from him now, he is being dispossessed; a bit of SEVEN STEPS TO THE GREEN DOOR, of DEVIN TOWNSEND in madness not to mention typical black groups which risk to scare away the progressive during this reading; good the voice starts on the growl of course, the musical machine guns are put, riff of the first METALLICA in speed metal, it rises more and more towards the maelstrom of chaotic nothingness, hard even for a headbanger that I am more called to cure insanity from time to time. "Stage 6 - L'Oubliette" and the certainty of not being able to leave this double fortress, mind and body, Henry is a prisoner, haggard, the crystalline notes of the piano symbolize this harsh reality in which he feels himself disappearing, unbearable anguish; enlightened and depressive metal doom embellished with an isolated guitar accompanies the pleading voice on an evolving tempo, a moment with heavy consequences for history, a moment of sidereal beauty for the musical rendering; a few evanescent piano notes further amplify the emotion felt until the dreamlike and melancholic finale, the last PINK FLOYD notes on the passage to the other side of insanity, irremediable. "Stage 7 - ________" and this beep at the end: "sleep now", the bells, the angelic voice, the celestial trumpets, a wind ensemble of 54 musicians, the tears that come out of the chronicler's eyes, the cardio dish symbolized by the title of the piece, it is the end, Henry no longer knows if he is thinking, if he has thought and of what; for the music, listen yourselves to live this unique moment. The end comes with rain and a doctor's voice warning of the epidemic, as the covid resurfaces I start to shake!

THE RETICENT has synthesized death metal, progressive rock, swing, noise, supercharged progressive metal, black metal and world music. He composed and performed paradoxically taking large doses of painkillers, high doses of emotion, passion with an acoustic project that was slowly transformed by Chris's warm and diverse voice; sounds that paint Henry's inescapable suffering. THE RETICENT will be part of one of my best discoveries of the extreme year, through the violence it exudes. For those who stay on the prog, that would barely be an 8, the fear of extreme music hitting their anvil; for those who have ventured down the winding paths of musical madness, it's just immense.