Alarum "Eventuality" CD
[Willowtip]
Finally, the long-awaited sophomore effort from this stellar Australian technical/progressive metal band sees the light of day. I'm not as immediately floored by this CD as I have been by their past work because I'm now familiar with them, but it's been two years since their last demo release, and around five years since their debut ("Fluid Motion"), and anyone who's read this site over the years knows that I've been an immense proponent of these guys since the first time I ever came across their music way back in 2000 (though they've already been around for an astonishing 12 years). Their penchant for Cynic worship is still heavily in place, with plenty of energetic riffing and tightly knit alternate picking patterns with lots of intricately woven layers of guitar parts and basslines that could've easily been at home on "Focus", not to mention some of the more ethereal textures and clean passages, but their songwriting has definitely become more diverse and creative over the years, to where their influences remain rather obvious (the key staples of technical/progressive metal - Cynic, Atheist, Pestilence, etc. - along with fusion players like Allan Holdsworth and Chick Corea, to name but a few), but they're certainly coming into their own. The vocals are still generally a strained midrange snarl accented by a larger amount of singing this time out, and the singing has improved, though it can still be a flat point to some degree. One of my favorite aspects of the record are the gorgeous solos, as the lead playing is off the charts as far as fluidity is concerned. Some of the 2002 demo tracks (re-recorded for this release) are still the strong points, with the slick jazzy intro to "Remote Viewing" blowing me away every time; "Subject to Change" and "Event Duality" acting among the more technical pieces, with shitloads of layering and lots of cool little dissonant twists to the chords; and "Reconditioned" has plenty of hard-hitting dual guitar parts with octave chords and interactive riffs that sound a lot like what Cynic was doing on the 1991 demo. Some of the newer cuts change it up a bit: "Inertial Grind" opens with some blazing speeds and far more aggression than is harnessed in most of the other tracks, whereas "Throughout the Moment" is one of the more laidback songs across the board - driven by singing vocals with lots of melodic guitar passages and more moderate tempos (the vocal performance comes off as unfortunately forced, however). There are a couple of brief instrumentals spread throughout the disc, and I think that was a little bit of a mistake, as most of them are rather uneventful to be honest, and they bulk up the total running time and interrupt the flow of the listening experience - a problem best paralleled to what Pestilence did (to a far more reckless degree) on "Testimony of the Ancients". (There's a decent unlisted instrumental with intriguing harmonics and guitar synth at the end of the disc after 20 minutes or so of silence, but I'm not sure why they went that route.) Production-wise this is an incredibly clear record and I'm fine with most of the tones, but something's definitely missing. I think that in the process of making sure that the mix was pristinely clear so that none of the elaborate layering would get lost something got thinned out a little much, as the end result lacks an immediate punch and has a few holes. I love the cleanliness of everything and that helps some of the more complex pieces truly shine (see "Subject to Change"), but I can't pinpoint what feels off. The bass parts are audible 95% of the time and the bass tone is killer (as is the performance), the drums are a little rigid but have a good sense of warmth and highlight an exquisite performance with shitloads of frantic fills and jazzy flare, the guitar tones are fine (especially on the leads), etc. I guess the vocals are a smidge too loud, just barely... and maybe the rhythm guitars should be a little more dominant in the mix to add force and push things out a little? I'm not sure, it sounds great, don't get me wrong, but there's definitely a little reworking that needs to be done next time around to really allow everything to feel complete. The layout's not so bad, though a little inconsistent as far as color schemes go. I prefer the abstract greenish imagery of the outer booklet over everything else, but most of the text is legible and it's fairly clean for the most part. The lyrics deal with a lot of rather positive perceptions of life as far as balance and understanding and such, often referencing nature as the band's material has done in the past: "Less of the world, more of the Earth, Growth soon to follow, Essence merged with a consciousness, The path of the unique, Unfolding golden breath, Birth is another, Seed of transformation..." Speaking mildly critically as an enormous fan of this band, I don't think this record is all that it could be, but I stand by the claims that I've made in the past that Alarum deserves to be revered alongside Cynic, Atheist, and Pestilence as one of the finest progressive metal acts of all time. Hopefully they'll get the opportunity to achieve that, because they've been very clearly proving that they've got the musical aptitude to reach that level with ease, I just think they need the proper studio budget and backing to effectively realize their talents. Aside from the recording (which only needs minimal tweaking) the only thing about this record that I'd suggest working on from a performance standpoint would be the vocals, as the singing needs a little more vibrancy to really convey the emotions properly. All of the instrumentation is absurdly tight and fluid, and the songwriting is coming along at a steady pace as well. These guys are among the best musicians out there in the metal scene right now, hands down, no argument... and I love this band, so I wish them the best and I'll be looking forward to their future, which I feel is only getting brighter. I'm so glad to finally see this record hit the streets. (9/10)
Running time - 44:00 (approximately), Tracks: 16
[Notable tracks: Velocity, Remote Viewing, Boundless Intent Part 2, Subject to Change, Reconditioned]
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