By John Bedard
When I hear “melodic” and “progressive” being used to describe an upcoming death metal album you instantly get my full attention. That being said I have high hopes and high expectations for the genre as it is a personal favorite. I expect complexity in the instrumentation and evolution within the tracks. I expect aggressive vocals with a lot of power to keep up with the heavy tone in the guitars – and, yes, I expect that heavy tone as well. So, do Mother of All live up to this expectation with their debut album? Hell yeah, they do!
Musically, things are exactly as they should be. The tone is wonderfully aggressive but also knows when to soften up and let vocals cut through. Every note is uncharacteristically clear for the genre. You can easily pick out what is going on at any given moment without anything running together or being overpowered. I really loved how punchy the drums sounded. It was not overdone making for this tight tone that stood out complementing the overall mix. I will say that a couple of times some of the transitions did feel a little abrupt but almost in an intentional way. It added to the abrasive feel of the arrangements.
Vocally, my comments are very similar. The vocal style is exactly what you would expect and want. It is aggressive and the way he screams has this very tight rasp to the tone that I thought really complimented the abrasive/aggressive tone I was talking about in the last paragraph. As each track evolves the vocals stay this constant through-line that keeps the whole track grounded, and it just feels right. Both the music and the vocals perfectly complement each other and never overpower each other.
There are few things I love better than being handed a debut album and being able to give it my stamp of approval, but Mother of All earned it. This was a clearly well-thought-out experience that the band poured a lot of passion into every track and crafted something that is truly special. This one is worth picking up if you are a fan of the genre.. even if you are not give it a try. It is a hard one to dislike and I think you will agree it has a place in your collection. Go pick it up. You won’t regret it.
- ‘Age Of The Solipsist’ is out now. You can get your copy HERE.
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