ALTESIA: Embryo (PROGRESSIVE METAL): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

The risk of missing the second album is a sword of Damocles over the head of many artists, especially when the first one was a success. For Altesia, the success was double with "Paragon Circus" since the album, in addition to being excellent, was also enjoyed by many fans of rock and progressive metal. So, in order to meet the legitimate expectations of their audience, the band from Bordeaux found the only solution for this second album, "Embryo": to do even better than the first one on all levels, production, execution and quality of the compositions.

If some people still wonder what definition can be given to the term progressive music, the answer can be found in these 60 minutes of pure auditory pleasure. 60 minutes of eclecticism, inventiveness and intelligence of the compositions, the whole sprinkled with perfectly digested influences. "Paragon Circus" followed in the prestigious wake of Opeth and Haken, "Embryo" continues on the same path, but is enriched by less obvious references such as Caligula's Horse and Leprous on the excellent djent pop track 'A Liar's Oath' and Wilderun on the huge 'Sleep Paralysis', which has the luxury of including a passage with a musette ball accordion in the middle of a lyrical and powerful melodic death.

No doubt, Altesia is a band free of any constraint and its music evolves according to the abundant inspiration of its leader Clément Darrieu, whose warm vocals has gained in power. At the same time more metal and more optimistic than "Paragon Circus", "Embryo" is well and truly at the crossroads of several styles: the progressive rock with 'Micromegas' and its final in the 'Afterglow' of Genesis, the progressive metal with 'The Remedial Sentence' and its two amazing jazzy bridges, the melodeath with 'Mouth Of The Sky' and its rhythmic on fire, the whole dominated by the inspired guitars of Alexis Casanova and magnificent symphonic passages orchestrated by the keyboards of Henri Bordillon.

This eclecticism culminates in 'Exit Initia', which stands head and shoulders above the vast majority of epics we've heard in recent years. This 21 minutes track is the continuation of the track 'Reminiscence' released on "Paragon Circus". It takes the melodic theme and fleshes it out with so many different breaks and motifs that it deserves a review of its own. By turns dark, luminous and moving, this track is simply the quintessence of what progressive metal can offer when interpreted with such fervor and class.

With this abundant and inspired album, Altesia imposes itself as one of the best progressive metal bands. Let's hope that it will get the exposure it deserves. - Official website

ALTESIA

EMBRYO

AUTRE LABEL

PROGRESSIVE METAL