DISAPPEAR IN BLUE

First off, I really hope that more listeners -- and also more metal-oriented reviewers than me! -- will finally notice this Finnish band with a notable expressive capacity. It's now over six years since Nauticus released their second album The Wait. For the most of that time they have been working on this new 78-minute monster of an album. According to them, "the departure of our singer caused a major delay on the release. In the end we decided to enlist the help of several guest vocalists and the finished product is without a doubt our most ambitious album yet." Agreed! The music is described as "a synthesis of weird/maniac song structures and sludgy progressive experimental rock with ethereal soundscapes".

'Magma' features Sakari Ojanen on vocals. This strong composition shows well the many strengths of Nauticus. Heaviness is not there just for the sake of metal, it intertwines effortlessly with the deep soundscape full of atmosphere. The album wastes no time in showing its many-sided nature, as the opener is followed by first of the three ethereal, ambient-oriented little instrumental pieces, 'Jesus of Lübeck', that seamlessly leads into an intensive Prog Metal piece 'Claimed by the Sea', one of the four tracks over 10 minutes in length. Again there are both growl-approaching power and some more nuanced moments in a dynamic balance.

The core quartet has two guitarists and no keyboardist, but they manage to create surprisingly colourful sounds containing Post- Rockish sonic ambiguity, with occasional synth-like brightness on guitars. Drummer and primary composer Tuomas Rajala plays piano or Glockespiel on a couple of tracks. More prog than metal oriented 'Singularity' is sung by Jyri Kuokka, who happily doesn't sound primarily a Heavy/Metal vocalist. 11-minute 'Arrival' kicks off with a burst of rage, but this track too is graced by wide dynamics and atmopsheric depth. Here and there the listener can also focus on the excellent bass/drum work.

The final song 'Glass Pyramids' gives the main vocals to Anette Kaukonen whose backing vocals earlier on the album didn't quite get the deserved spot. A pity then that her beautiful voice isn't at first central on this song either. But enough to make this one a highlight. As I'm more or less an anti-metal music listener, it comes as no surprise that I appreciate especially the ambient instrumentals as one important ingredient to this album. Despite my own zones of uncomfort and unfamiliarity concerning angry metal elements, I sincerely think this is a very good and excellently produced album in the experimental/post metal subgenre.

The band has been working on this album for 5 years because they had to replace their singer with several guest singers. The result is their most ambitious project. The music is in the vein of the post-metal genre with heavy guitar riffs, experimental parts, and a dark atmosphere. The song structures are unusual in some places but mostly accessible with a music that switches moods smoothly going through some hard driven parts to some slow and quiet parts that have a slight Tool influence. Don't expect any big guitar solos here, the musicians have equal parts to place the melody before anything. I have to thanks Nauticus for this nice discovery!

And finally, the third album of Nauticus was released after years of work and preparation!

The band lost the singer Jani Ramo in the process (luckily, because he was not good) and they used four different vocalists and a choir in substitution. The production was again taken by the drummer and leader of the band Tuomas Rajala and everything sounds just fine, even better than in their previous effort The Wait.

The style of the band follows the path created by the two previous albums offering another (big) dose of alternative prog metal with avant-garde elements and some experimentations with passages which bring Tool to mind and some Mastodon's Leviathan sounding guitars very appropriated for the nautical ambience that the band tries to imprint to Disappear in Blue.

But sadly, the song writing is a bit irregular throughout the whole album, especially in longer songs like Arrival and Hyeronimus when some disjointed ideas and repetitive passages pass a bill which is too big to overcome. And though the vocal production is much better than the two previous records of the band, they still lack some personality to be really remarkable.

Best tracks: Magma (the typical Nauticus semi-distorted guitars appear here, and the syncopated vocals are the best of the album), Singularity (catchy, beautiful and hypnotic track, maybe Nauticus's best) and Glass Pyramids (gorgeous female vocals and some post-rock influences for another fine song)

Conclusion: despite a pair of very good ideas and some fine songs, Disappear in Blue is too long and too disjointed to be considered excellent. It has remarkable moments like the aforementioned best tracks and the post-rock ambiental and oppressive tunes Desolation and Whale Bones, but the lack of catchier moments, the over dimensioned length and the absence of a true vocalist are problems which are too big to ignore.

Nevertheless, the album has some kind of mysterious charm which makes you desire to submerge in it again. And of course, Disappear in Blue makes me want to hear more from Nauticus, because I know that with a bit of self contention and catchier song writing, they will be able to make an excellent experimental prog metal album in the future.

My rating: ***