THE LINEAR SCAFFOLD

Now here's a surprise. Solefald on Prog Archives. The open-mindedness of the prog metal team flabbergasts me again. Where can I sign up ?

Solefald is an avant-garde black metal (or post black metal) affair, very much like Arcturus (La Masquerade Infernale) and Ephel Duath (Phormula) are. Progressive, you may ask ? You betcha !!! More progressive than some so-called progressive bands, in any case.

The Linear Scaffold, as an album, is anything but linear. We are taken through so many different moods throughout this album it is hard to keep track. From black metal blast beats to beautiful piano motifs, from screeching vocals to spoken word poetry, from folk to classical, all within these 40 minutes. Noise ? Not at all. In fact, the songs in themselves are coherent, and, strangely enough, so is the album. The production is average, but works well enough for the type(s) of music. The execution of the two musicians here is not flawless (it was, after all, their first album as Solefald), but the brilliant and original ideas displayed more than make up for it.

If you are the adventurous type, you ought to give this album a few spins, as one will probably not do, unless you are an avant-garde open minded nut. Not into metal ? Stay away, we'll keep this excellent album to ourselves !

Four stars, and this is their first effort !