This is a personal favorite in genre that my friend Dave Kerman insists dopes not exist - "avant garde metal". There's no real death metal growling here - just a few tracks with a sort of grunted vocals. For the rest - there's metal, prog, symphonic, and middle eastern traditional. There's a sax and a violin, there are crowd chants, dark and moody instrumentals and so much else - seamlessly integrated into a pleasing whole with deep hooks that stay with me for weeks at a time.
It isn't the most experimental thing you'll ever hear (though many will find it to be pretty "out there"), nor the most brilliant (though it's damned good). But I've just been through a week long binge of playing it again and again and thought I'd share the earworms.
Per "OpethGuitarist" on ProgArchives:
http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=8870Incredible output by this very Non-prog metal band. I say that not because they aren't progressive, but because this band/album is so much more than a generic prog metal band. If you're biggest complaint is that there's no thought/emotion in prog metal, this is an album you must own. It's not only extremely out there in many regards, but the songwriting is gripping and poetic. Just take a quick glance over the instruments used here. I'd like to think of this band as the doom version of Kayo Dot, in order to give some kind of comparison.
Wolf Among Sheep has an amazing impromptu chorus in the middle with lush chords and a quirky spring like sound that will have you dazzled. Despite the craziness that ensues, its incredibly well formed to keep a sense of structure rather than random ramblings that many avant style bands might fall into. What's most important is that there's enough here to keep you guessing, and to keep you coming back to the album searching for more.
I can't think of too many other projects pulled off like this with what seems like such ease. One can hope to expect many more outputs by this band of the same quality, as they have outstanding potential. A real gem in the field.
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Originally Posted by mnprogger
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