» Blog Archive Review: Persefone Take Baby Steps Forward On Aathma -
Evan Conway Hard Music, News, Reviews, Streaming

Aathma 1Every so often, a band comes along that turns the heads of everyone in the extreme metal underground. Perhaps it be for a revolutionary sound or just general greatness, bands can do this with a single song. Persefone is one of those, and as such have been getting their recognition since the release of 2013’s Spiritual Migration. Now with Aathma, the band are aiming higher than before, yet still playing it safe enough to appease their growing fanbase.

Spiritual Migration was an odd experience for me. I’ve professed a love for prog metal and melo death, but Spiritual Migration’s production and overall style-over-substance led me to be that black sheep in a sea of praise for the band. I tried multiple times to digest the album, but I wasn’t getting anything out of it at all. Aathma seemed like a proper second chance, seeing as one would expect the band to improve with their net release. In a way, though, the band does, yet despite shortcomings to my particular taste, their fifth studio album is a general step in the right direction.

AAathma 3athma does a better job at conjuring memorable moments throughout its lengthy runtime, which extends to 70 minutes if you get the bonus track with it. Things seem like a general follow-up to Spiritual Migration, but then Persefone decides to throw you your first of these great moments on “Spirals Within Thy Being.” You get another great track later on with “Living Waves,” which adds to it by featuring Paul Masvidal from Cynic fame, and the closing movement to the album’s massive title track is nothing short of remarkable. It just goes to show Persefone did their best to have moments that linger in your brain for a while, of which is a great amount of progress for them.

With that said, the album’s noteworthy moments stop there. Take out these highlights and improvements over the past release and Persefone have essentially done Spiritual Migration again. Not verbatim, but it’s very much in the style of their previous release, arguably playing it safe in going forward. “Let’s recreate the same success since the last one worked out so well!” is probably what the band thought. That’s not a bad frame of mind, especially for a band as small as them gaining popularity, but at the very least I can understand where they’re coming from.

Persefone 4Lets make this clear: Persefone are incredibly talented musicians, I cannot deny that. They riff and solo in an extremely melodic manner and have some tight, proggy moments in their music that are a true testament to progressive metal. Yet, why can’t I get it? Simply put, I believe it lies in their production. Persefone don’t think of their music on a micro level and aim high, to which I applaud and cannot encourage more. However when it comes to the general mixing done, their sound is flat, no matter how massive their aspirations are. With a flat production, the music’s emotion is taken away and the sense of wonder is sapped.

Take it like this: you’re walking a desert and stumble upon a small puddle of water. You drink the water and keep going forward. Once you get thirsty again and feel the effects of dehydration, you find another puddle of water, maybe a bit bigger. Those puddles being the noteworthy moments are effective in keeping you going forward, but when the production is this flat, it’s like walking in a desert: you can find water, but you’re still there.

Persefone aren’t a bad band by any means, and everyone who loves this band already is undoubtedly going to love Aathma. There’s great ideas here and excellent musicianship at play, but there’s a lack of emotion because of a monotone production job, thus making it a long, arduous listen. Still, if you enjoy technicality or Spiritual Migration, Aathma is probably going to be your album of the year come December. Nothing I can say will change that.

Aathma is available everywhere now. You can stream the video for “Living Waves” below.

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