EPISODE 01: LIKE PEERING INTO THE DEEPEST OCEAN ABYSS.

This decade, there seems to have been an explosion of Progressive Metal. While this is exciting for fans of the genre like myself, it can often be difficult for a new Progressive Metal band to distinguish themselves - to bring something new to the table. This album was a very pleasant surprise for me: I almost immediately knew that this band was unique and special, and each track I heard only reinforced this ultimate conclusion. According to the press release for this album, the band's name, "The Deadstation", is meant to represent a fictional dystopian TV channel, and the albums are meant to be episodes from this station with each song being a new scene. The music represents this idea very well, with changes of moods between the tracks that do flow like scenes in a show. This particular "episode" is meant to represent putting everything on the line and failing, but being completely aware of that failure as it progresses and being unable to stop it. And the music accomplishes the feelings of this concept quite well, going through feelings of anguish, frustration, fear, and ending with an ultimate feeling of surrender in the last track. One thing I found very unique about the music was during some of the earlier tracks, I thought I heard definite influences from Meshuggah in the drumming and guitar work, with thick, heavy, lightning fast poly-rhythms coming from the drums. But the most interesting thing was that during these aggressive, crushingly heavy arrangements from the guitars and drums, the keyboardist seemed almost like he was in another world - he would be playing these atmospheric keyboard textures on top of these sounds, almost like he had brought the wrong sheet music to the studio. And I do not say this to criticize either - it was incredibly fascinating to me, like a spicy ethnic food dish that contained bits of sweet juicy fruit, creating an interesting juxtaposition between the elements that seemed to be in opposition but ultimately created quite a pleasing texture. And these aggressive textures were not the only trick up this band's sleeve either, but there were sections of tranquility, giving the album a very dynamic feel. This album kept me engaged and interested all the way through, and I wanted to listen again and again even though I had a list of other favorites waiting for me in my queue. I sincerely hope to hear from this band again in the very near future.

My rating: 4.5 stars

Originally written for www.seaoftranquility.org