Review Summary: All good things of progressive metal combined.
Earthside is a new band in the prog-metal scene, featuring talented musicians that came together to create something they call “cinematic rock”. This term perfectly captures the sound that the band is going for. The band blends symphonic, soundtrack-like atmospheres with the heaviness and technical difficulty of progressive music.
It’s evident in the first track that this isn’t just casual progressive metal. The tone that’s set in the first track ‘The Closest I’ve Come’ is what the whole album is about. The great thing about this album is that there’s a lot of variety, without overdoing it. There are instrumental tracks, but also tracks that feature some of the best vocalist in the (progressive) metal scene. With names like Daniel Tompkins, Björn Strid and Lajon Witherspoon you know that Earthside isn’t just casually making a debut. Same goes for the production, which is mind-blowing. David Castillo and Jens Bogren deliver once again with an amazing mix. A lot of money went into this album, featuring a full orchestra on some tracks, a high quality music video for ‘Mob Mentality’, and a website that looks very professional. But that’s not the only thing that makes this record the best progressive metal record of 2015.
The main thing that these guys do right is making progressive metal without the wankery that most bands are known for. These guys completely focus on the song-writing and atmosphere in their tracks. That’s the main reason why they can easily pull of 8-minute instrumentals without boring the audience. There is a lot of energy and because of all the layers you can listen to this album again and again. A highlight of the album in my opinion is ‘Mob Mentality’ which was written by guitarist Jamie van Dyck. The song has vocals by Lajon Witherspoon and also features the Moscow Studio Symphony Orchestra. It’s not just a metal song with an orchestra that adds some layers, but it’s an opera with metal elements. The song may sound a bit like a mess at first but once you listen to it a few times it all makes sense.
The focus on song-writing and ambience doesn’t mean that there are no intricate parts. The songs are filled with amazing instrumentation, but they never distract the listener. The technical parts in the song never feel like showing off, every note adds something to each track. Every member has his moments on the record and each of them, except the bass-player, wrote a song on his own. Drummer Ben Shambron wrote ‘Crater’ and keyboardist Frank Sacramone wrote ‘Entering the Light’. Bassist Ryan Griffin joined the band a bit too late to write his own song on the album, but he still has amazing parts, like the bassline in the beginning of ‘Crater’.
This album has very few drawbacks, the only one I can think of is that the song aren’t that easy to listen to. There are a lot of layers and the song are all written with different formulas. For progressive fans this is great news, but people new to the genre probably won’t enjoy these longwinded, atmospheric metal songs. But even this drawback may be the best thing about the album for some people. The atmospheres and all the emotion put into the songs keeps the album interesting after many listens. It was an easy album of the year for me, and it only gets better after more listens.
