Atropos Project - Equator review

Equator is the debut album from one-man progressive rock/metal band Atropos Project. John Quarles, the main member of the band, wrote to me requesting a review of his album. I was happy to find that my first requested album to review was a very good piece of music.

 

A pitfall of progressive rock is that it can meander too far off in its musical meanderings. Quarles manages to avoid this for the most part. A passage outstays its welcome here and there, but he is on the right path to balancing meandering with keeping the music interesting. Tempo changes and quiet interludes add interest to the tracks while maintaining coherency. John also mixes heavy metal –style distorted guitars in with the progressive rock, which works very well.

I picked up a diverse range of influences in the guitar work. I heard passages that reminded me of Carlos Santana, Opeth, Rush and even Megadeth. F.A.C contains both Opeth-like riffs and a Santana-like solo. I could also hear Santana influences in the opening riff of Drudgery. The latter also had a metal-tinged passage which reminded me of the Megadeth track Angry Again. Suspiria had parts which reminded me of Rush.

The drums sounded somewhat unnatural in places, like on the track Deadfall. However, the programmed drums fit well in the context of the tracks which contain ethereal, spacey keyboard effects. Inception’s Promise and F.A.C. made me picture travelling past the planets of the universe, as did Suspiria. Audible bass is always a good thing on an album, and its role in adding strength to a track shouldn’t be underestimated. Equator contains some great bass lines, as on Deadfall and Spiralling. The bass line on the latter has an interesting effect on it, and layers well the guitar riffs.

Atropos Project shows promise with this debut release; moments of brilliance can be found here and there. I look forward to hearing future material.

Personnel:

All instruments – John Quarles

Additional guitars and keyboards – Mark Morris (on F.A.C)

Additional guitar – Larry McClenon (on Spiralling)

Pedal steel, dobro and slide guitar – Gary Richardi (on And…Lift)

Web presence:

http://atroposproject.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/AtroposProject

Hung - 'Hung' Review

After listening to Hung's self-titled debut album, the musical feature which lingered most prominently in my mind was the violin. Coincidentally, this New York melodic death metal band was started by renowned violinist Lyris Hung (the band's namesake). She trained at Juilliard and Columbia University, and has performed with Bryan Adams and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, among others. Hung came to life in early 2005, with the addition of Jon Clark and Sam Roon. Dmitry Kostisyn joined as frontman, and drummer Kenny Grohowski joined after the band went through a few drummers. Hung is not the band's actual debut release, instead it is their first release on an official label (ReThink Records, as well as The End Records).

An acoustic instrumental track begins the album. Titled Eos, it is a hauntingly beautiful combination of soaring violin, acoustic guitar and a little bit of banjo. Desert of Sad gallops off into a lively melodic death metal track. The violins complement the electric guitars very well. Some bubbling guitar notes come just before a catchy clean singing chorus. Other tracks also contain a mixture of clean and harsh vocals, often with both death metal and black metal harsh vocals. This mixture sounded somewhat random at times, but otherwise added interest to the songs. A solid rhythm guitar line provided a great base for the lead to weave around the music, and the drums were the engine of the song. The next track, Maria, sounded quite similar to Desert of Sad. Upon multiple listens, I found that Maria had a slower drumbeat. This song has a juicy bassline and some good riffs.The end of the song has some catchy riffs, as do most of the songs on this album.


Slower interludes among the gallopy rhythms give the songs breathing space, and also prevent them from being monotonous. Track six, Left For The New Life, clocks in at 12:08, yet doesn't feel as long as that because of the interesting tempo changes. Matter of the Blood is another epic (7:01) which avoids tedium. An acoustic and electric guitar duet opens this track. The sound gradually builds in intensity, with the addition of rising violin notes, and a progressive rock sound. Just when I thought this track would be a prog rock number, marching drums and harsh vocals arrived, taking the song in a different direction. The slow interludes in between faster rhythms don't sound abrubt, and work very well.

All the instruments on this album have their standout moments. Recently I broke out of my habit of paying close attention to the guitars only, and as a result, I have found some memorable bass riffs and drum patterns. Drummer Kenny Grohowski does much to drive the songs on this album. He also adds in some interesting patterns, like on Evil Tsar, and goes thrash-like on Sediment of War. Jon Clark and Sam Roon create layered guitar sounds, with a good amount of counter-rhythms. I enjoyed the solos and riffs too: the high-pitched solo on Progeny dances across the soundscape, while the lead guitar wails on Left For The New Life. Progeny also contains an Opeth-like intro with delicate-sounding acoustic and electric guitars. As I mentioned in the beginning of the review, the violin is a prominent feature on Hung. It soars, drops down into darkness and enhances the emotion of the guitars in particular. Lyris Hung is clearly a top-flight violin player.

Hung sounds a bit like it has been done before, but it still has brilliant moments. I enjoyed listening to this album; I felt that the songs told interesting stories, both through the lyrics and the music.

MetalSucks.com is streaming the whole album here: http://www.metalsucks.net/2012/05/07/exclusive-premiere-hungs-self-titled-album/
Find Hung's official website here: http://hungrocks.com/