FROM THE YEARNING TO BURST THE PERPETUAL CIRCLE

Listening diary 8th March, 2022: Koyaanisqatsy - From the Yearning to Burst the Perpetual Circle (neoclassical progressive metal, 2000)

It's probably no surprise that this album has something of a cult - it's a one-off album from a band with a strange name, in a style that has honestly not been explored as much as you'd think. Sure, there's tons of symphonic progressive metal, and tons of instrumental technical stuff, but not a lot that really first partway through that. This is an instrumental metal album that doesn't feel like it's there to show off how good the guitarist is. In fact, entire parts of this feel like a piece of classical music, with the same focus on instrumental melodies, recurring motifs and slow mood changes. The guitar here isn't a lead, shining above the rest, it's just a part of an orchestra. This is a symphony, not a concerto. But it has a ceiling - power metal has never interested me and although it's great to have some without any nail scratching vocals, the sections of instrumental power chugging aren't particularly interesting. There are also parts where the limits of creating an orchestra with keyboards in the year 2000 show up - this sounds painfully fake for great lengths. At times when the melodies are good enough to carry it, that's fine, but there are sections where that isn't the case.

6.6 (4th listen)

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