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"Ten years after the end of the Beyond Twilight adventure, which paved the way for a progressive metal with a strong personality, Finn Zierler is back with a new must-have album, "Esc"."
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5/5
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If Finn Zierler wanted to make people forget his absence of almost ten years, he wouldn't have it any other way with this return. Everything in this solo project is designed to arouse curiosity: strange album cover and name, postponement of the release initially planned for 2013, statement on the cathartic nature of the work and above all, stunning line-up. Zierler wanted the best to restore his creativity by surrounding himself with very seasoned musicians: guitarist Per Nilsson (Scar Symmetry, Kaipa), singers Truls Haugen (Circus Maximus) and Kelly Sundown Carpenter (Outworld) and drummer Bobby Jarzombek (Fates Warning).
Solo project "Esc" can however be affiliated to the work with his previous band, Beyond Twilight, as it restores the essence of his work. "Esc" is a synthesis of melodic expressiveness, power, progressive metal virtuosity and audacity. Zierler composed with a desire to break codes and norms, symbolized by the track without chorus 'No Chorus', and let his creativity escape in the great harmonic diversity of this magma of melting progressive metal rocked by his keyboards and arrangements. The result is coherent, masterful and uncompromising, imbued with Devin Townsend's grandiloquence, Dream Theater's technicality and symphonically ambienced like a horror-movie soundtrack.
With an incredible fluidity, "Esc" plays on instrumental breaks (the live 'You Can't Fix Me No More' or the fusion sequence of 'Water') and on chiaroscuro types of vocals ('Darkness Delight', 'Married To The Cause' or the ACT-like light verses of 'Aggrezzor'). Without ever being linear, "Esc" juggles thematic covers (the piano theme of 'Rainheart' and 'Water') and atmospheric contrasts ('Water') with a subtle piano that defies the heaviness of the riffs.
The name of super-group is not usurped here. We will quote particularly the Swedish Per Nilsson, pyrotechnic craftsman of the riff and signatory of wonderfull solos going from lyricism ('A New Beginning') to neo-classical (the duel piano-guitar of 'Water').
"Esc" is a musical experience that goes beyond metal and whose theatrical ('Dark To The Bone', 'Married To The Cause'), frightening (the violins in 'Evil Spirit') and narrative ('A New Beginning') components are enhanced by rich orchestrations ('Dark To The Bone'). On this last point, Kelly Sundown Carpenter, already present on 'Section X' and Truls Haugen, deploy the full extent of his breathtaking vocal dispositions and vibrate in phase with the rich harmonic combinations of 'Esc'. Rappers ('No Chorus'), emphatic like a Mike Patton ('Water'), alternately raging and pop ('Darkness Delight' or the hyper-melodic 'You Can't Fix Me No More'), or melancholic (the heartbreaking 'Whispers') and possessed ('Evil Spirit'), the American and the Norwegian embody a large part of the emotional expression of the record.
In composing "Esc", the Danish prodigy wanted to push back the limits he himself had set with Beyond Twilight's cult album "For The Love Of Art And The Making". Carried by a concept he has already addressed in "Section X" on dehumanization, Finn Zierler unleashes his creativity in this dense, melodic, complex, epic and excessive album that suffers from no length. He makes an explosive comeback and "Esc", probably one of the most striking references of these last years in progressive metal, constitutes the acme of his career. - Official website
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TRACK LISTING:
01. A New Beginning-07:24 02. Aggrezzor-06:03 03. Darkness Delight-07:03 04. Dark To The Bone-05:17 05. Evil Spirit-05:56 06. Married To The Cause-06:00 07. No Chorus-05:37 08. Rainheart-07:11 09. You Can't Fix Me No More-04:44 10. Water-08:32 11. Whispers-08:10
LINEUP:
Bobby Jarzombek: Batterie Finn Zierler: Claviers Kelly Sundown Carpenter: Chant Per Nilsson: Guitares / Basse Truls Haugen: Chant
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