Style: Melodic death metal, progressive death metal (mixed vocals, mostly harsh)
Recommended for fans of: Allegaeon, Entheos, At the Gates, In Flames
Country: Massachusetts, United States
Release date: 21 March 2025

Standing out in the crowded sea of melodic death metal bands isn’t easy. Now and then, a relative newcomer emerges with something fresh, whether it’s Eternal Storm with their epic A Giant Bound to Fall or Countless Skies’ engaging Glow—but making waves is the exception, not the rule. The genre has become especially saturated in the United States, full of new releases of passable quality and with precious few gems.

With their sophomore LP Erasure of Color, Boston-based Aversed look to buck this trend, offering up a wicked slab of melodeath after several years of songwriting and a change in vocalist. Fronted by the versatile Sarah Hartman, and backed by serious instrumental talent, the band unleash a work that, while not a concept album, is connected by a gloomy soundscape and lyrical themes of heartbreak—whether platonic, romantic, or more existential. In short, Aversed put a lot of ambition behind Erasure of Color, and it’s apparent from the first few minutes. But does this album provide something that separates it from the endless tide of middling melodeath releases?

Erasure of Color is Gothenburg-tinged melodeath at its core, but it borrows elements from plenty of other death metal styles. Opener “To Cover Up The Sky” comes in with techy riffing and frenetic drumming, reminiscent of Obscura, and “Lucid Decapitation” sprinkles in dissonance throughout, sounding not unlike Ulcerate-lite at times. Both tracks stand out precisely because of these infusions—the stylistic inspirations are woven into Aversed’s brand of heavy, groove-laden melodic death metal without sounding contrived. “Solitary,” perhaps Erasure’s most ambitious track, displays the band’s progressive tendencies, fitting a big, winding composition into a mere five and a half minutes. And, though not always fluidly, the title track hits you with dissonance, an orchestral bridge, blackened riffing, and a gothic atmosphere, particularly in its chorus. It seems Aversed want to make sure you’re anything but bored, dynamically shifting which style lies atop the underlying melodic death metal. 

To varying degrees of success, Erasure of Color also offers tracks more typical of its genre. The appropriately titled “Burn” is, indeed, a fiery one, bringing plenty of energy along with immense bass grooves and an infectious chorus. “Cross to Bear,” on the other hand, sounds quite generic and places a big emphasis on its chorus at the expense of its other parts—the transition to the blast beats backing the chorus could be smoother, and the rest more memorable. And unfortunately, the album’s closer “Departures” wades into formulaic metalcore territory and spends too long across that border. Erasure of Color is mostly a success, but it suffers from imbalances in quality across its tracks, and the numerous ideas within each track aren’t always arranged cohesively.

Whatever the track, though, Hartman’s vocals fill it charismatically. She has three main deliveries in her quiver: low growls, higher-pitched screams, and lovely cleans. Although the growls and screams aren’t especially noteworthy, Hartman’s full performance is greater than the sum of its parts—the way she cycles between deliveries and uses them to paint the music with different shades is central to the album’s sonic identity. The chorus of “Solitary,” in addition to having some of the slickest guitar work on the album, best exemplifies this, as she fits in each of the three deliveries with impeccable timing and full emotional force. But Aversed aren’t just a platform for Hartman: sitting on the techier side of melodeath, the rest of the band turns in a tight performance, full of dexterous chops and plenty of instrumental flair. 

Erasure of Color is an undeniably impressive listen despite some compositional shortcomings. Although Aversed have room to develop and tighten up their songwriting, they’ve avoided music’s biggest sin, and one that’s all too common in their genre—being boring. The band might not reinvent the wheel, yet they don’t sound derivative, and Erasure of Color maintains a dynamic energy while providing enough style and complexity to reward repeated listens. Time will tell whether the album makes more than ephemeral ripples in the genre’s vast sea, but Aversed certainly have the creativity and talent to go on to make waves.

Recommended tracks: To Cover Up The Sky, Lucid Decapitation, Solitary, Burn
You may also like: Vintersea, Dawn of Ouroboros, Eternal Storm, Greylotus
Final verdict: 6.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page

Label: M-Theory Audio – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website

Aversed is:
– Martin Epstein (bass)
– Sungwoo Jeong (guitars, vocals)
– Alden Marchand (guitars)
– Jeff Saltzman (drums)
– Sarah Hartman (vocals)

The post Review: Aversed – Erasure of Color appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Art by Shad Mouais

Style: Progressive death metal, technical death metal (mixed vocals))
Recommended for fans of: Obscura, Alkaloid, Black Dahlia Murder, Gorod
Country: France
Release date: 4 April, 2025

Watching real life character development before your eyes is always interesting. Artists rarely show their true forms right out of the gate; whatever insanely ambitious project they may have brewing might just not match their current level of talent. It takes years, maybe decades of honing that craft to see a vision like that through. The early works of George R.R Martin don’t even hold a candle to how efficiently his epic A Song of Ice and Fire series is written, nor do the pre-Dickinson Iron Maiden albums have anything on their legendary mid-80s discography run. Gorguts didn’t create their dissodeath empire in a day, and even the mighty Archspire shot out of the gate with a misstep.

Fractal Universe didn’t quite get the memo, and released Engram of Decline, which is to this day, a masterclass in tech-death riffing and song structure. Sure, it’s a bit bloated, and the vocals weren’t quite there yet, but it’s a record full of face-melting riffs, jazzy solos, and just the right amount of sax. The prog influences, breakneck tempo changes, and spacy ambiance cemented Fractal Universe as a band who quickly rose to power in the tech-death pantheon. Then, they dipped further into prog and further away from tech, and any worry I had of them losing identity quickly faded with releases two and three. Rhizomes of Insanity and The Impassable Horizon are somehow even better releases than the debut, showing a band who’ve matured far faster than most. Surely, on the Great Filters, fortune favors this band over the massive amount of tech-death bloat we’ve experienced in recent years?

The Great Filters starts strongly enough, with a signature spidery riff pattern before quickly changing to the clean vocals we’ve come to know and love on their last two releases. But, something’s off—almost immediately. Vince Wilquin’s cleans sound a touch whiny here, and continue to sound that way for the rest of the album. The powerful rasps and delicate, Morean-like (Alkaloid, Noneuclid) vocal patterns have been completely eschewed in favor of something nasal, and they’re not at all pleasant to listen to. The growls are secondary on the whole record, added beforehand to make the soaring, clean chorus on every song feel like it has some semblance of dynamics. There’s a blandness to this record that hasn’t been found on any of the band’s prior releases, complete with the same spacey clean guitar that needs to be used during the clean verses. Every song follows nearly the exact same formula, feeling like better pieces of other Fractal Universe songs shoved where they don’t belong. 

Even the production sounds off, not in the typical, plastic-y way that tech-death normally does. The Great Filters tip-toes between sounding clinically clean and overwhelmingly compressed, with both the softer and heavier sections being lifeless and hollow as a result. There’s an oomph to The Impassable Horizon’s glassy, grunting, audible bass and incredible guitar tones, all while remaining crystal clear in the dynamics. The drums are mixed horribly here, with a nearly inaudible snare and nonexistent kicks meekly driving most of the songs. Not to mention the overuse of sax, which is the only instrument that seems to be mixed correctly. Vince Wilquin’s skills are nothing to scoff at, but having it showcased in almost every song for the sake of padding ruins the gimmick as early as ‘Causality’s Grip,’ and by the time the sax appears on ‘Specific Obsolescence’, I was rolling my eyes and experiencing what can only be described as aural pain from the oppressively generic solo that followed.

‘The Equation of Abundance’ sees the band dip into an almost ballad-like territory, and it reaffirms that The Great Filters’ songwriting is all over the place. Gone are the face-melting riffs and solos, instead replaced with generic, odd-timed chugs. Each song has the standard, massive chorus where the vocals are belted out and the chords are huge, but just like the rest of the record, they feel more like ticks off a playbook than the band actually experimenting with their songwriting chops. There isn’t an ounce of memorability on this record, yet I can still sing the amazing chorus of ‘Flashes of Potentialities’ from Rhizomes, because that record didn’t write the same song nine times.

I can’t be the slightest bit forgiving, because this isn’t some no-name band. This is a band that is near and dear to my heart, and I’ve just watched them miss the pool and dive headfirst into concrete. As I write this, the outro of ‘A New Cycle’ plays, offering a reprisal of the intro chugs and lead-line. Instead of feeling that my soul has ascended and my palette sated, I can only feel that I’ve looked upon something empty. This serves as a shining example of playing to a formula, and forgetting what made the band so outlandish and unusual in the first place. Instead of progressing, everything here is regressing, back to the very antithesis of what a genre like progressive death metal is all about. I guess regression is a type of character development too, right? 

Recommended tracks: The Void Above
You may also like: Carnosus, Synaptic, Retromorphosis
Final verdict: 4/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page

Label: M-Theory Audio – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website

Fractal Universe is:
– Vince Wilquin (vocals, guitar, saxiphone)
– Valentin Pelletier (bass)
– Clement Denys (drums)

– Yohan Dully (guitar)

The post Review: Fractal Universe – The Great Filters appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Album art by: Aria Fawn

Style: Progressive metal, melodic death/black metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Dark Tranquillity, Borknagar, Ihsahn (self titled), late 00s melodeath
Country: Minnesota, United States
Release date: 30 August 2024

Categorizing music beyond the basic descriptions is often frowned upon within the prog metal community: categorization creates expectation, which can lead one astray when encountering a band who tries to break the mold. I am someone who loves to categorize¹, though, for it gives me a language to discuss and absorb new music with. Sometimes however, it does indeed lead me astray, and today’s subject of review is one such case. Amiensus is back with the second installment of their double album Reclamation. My colleague Zach reviewed the first part, but somehow part two got lost in the reviewing queue and we’re only getting to it now, me being the one to dissect it. And good God, it took me a while to figure out what was going on.

Amiensus was advertised to me as progressive black metal, a genre which I typically associate with bands who prioritize emotion and/or atmosphere (think of Enslaved, Xanthochroid, Dordeduh, etc). After a while though, it dawned on me that though Reclamation Pt. II is definitely blackened, its guitarwork focused way more on inducing neck cramps than on evoking gothic castles in a snowstorm, leading me to think of the record as prog death primarily, and—given that Amiensus is generally melodic and uses a mixed vocals approach—my mind immediately went to bands like Ne Obliviscaris, Opeth, and Enslaved (given the black metal elements) for comparison rather than, say, tech death flirting bands like Death, Obscura, or Gorguts. Turns out though, Amiensus doesn’t quite fit with any of those bands either. Let me explain.

Whereas contemporary progressive (melodic) death metal acts like An Abstract Illusion, Ne Obliviscaris, or Disillusion tend to go for extensive, indulgent compositions focusing on grand, sweeping emotions to provide for adults what “my girlfriend left me and no one can understand my REAL and DEEP pain” type emo/metalcore bands provide for teenagers², Amiensus keeps their compositions tight and the music relatively upbeat, focusing primarily on head-bangable riffs and sounding badass. While their music is undoubtedly serious and cinematic, the emotions aren’t nearly as heavy as their contemporaries’. Amiensus is a metal band first and foremost, and their progressive aspects are used in service of that, coming in the form of crazy transitions, off-kilter rhythms, tempo changes, and extra dynamic, densely packed songwriting. In that regard, In Vain is probably the closest comparison: both bands take regular melodeath as a basis and amp up the complexity and technicality to become prog, and given that Amiensus also adds in black metal and Viking metal elements, which—in tandem with the cinematic aspect—bring about Borknagar comparisons as well.

As a metal band, Amiensus absolutely rules, showing an incredible acumen for riffage. Whether it’s the hard rocking main riff of opener “Sólfarið”, the machine gun fire assault of “Leprosarium”, the epic meloblack tremolo picking of “The Distance”, or any of the Gothenburg-style lead harmonies that permeate basically every song, Reclamation Pt. II barrages you with one quality riff after another. And that’s not all: Chris Piette’s ferocious work behind the kit elevates the guitarwork to even greater heights. His every hit is in sync with the complex guitar patterns, giving extra punch to the lower end, and his many mini fills provide micro transitions which adds to the dynamic feel of the music. The entire album is a walking highlight reel for the man, but “Leprosarium” in particular is a great sample track for his talents. On vocals, James Benson’s forceful harshes tear through the space with charisma, evoking a prime Mikael Stanne (Dark Tranquillity) in his delivery, and Alec Rozsa does a monstrous deeper, guttural growl. Benson also does the occasional clean vocals and has a lovely, mystic timbre similar to Lars Nedland (Borknagar). 

Speaking of Nedland, the man actually features as a guest singer on “The Distance”, a song which takes a step back from the record’s usual violent approach by slowing down the tempo and focusing on atmosphere. Programmed strings and hypnotic guitar chords act as the aural equivalent of a cosy blanket, resulting in plenty of room for Nedland to take center stage and work his magic. On one hand, the track is a bit too reliant on the guest singer for my liking, and I would have liked to hear Benson’s cleans duet with Nedland’s, but it’s hard to complain when the result is as magical as this.

Unfortunately for Amiensus though, I am Dutch, so complaining is in my nature and will thus find its way through the narrow cracks in Reclamation Pt. II. First off, the mastering is slightly brickwalled. On the bright side, this gives the guitars and drums a lot of oomph, but the loudness of it all does become fatiguing to listen to after a while, especially so when listening to Reclamation Pt. II right after Pt. I. When the band pulls all the stops (which is often), the wall of sound that the guitars and drums produce buries the bass completely, and even the harsh vocals can struggle to find a spot in the mix at times, let alone Benson’s clean vocals. This plays a large part in my second complaint, which is that the songs tend to devolve in nonstop riff assaults and lack clear hooks. If riffs are enough to hook you, you likely won’t have a problem with Reclamation Pt. II, but otherwise, the vocal melodies struggle to remain above the surface. Amiensus also doesn’t repeat sections a whole lot, so it can be hard to find something to latch onto.

I always find it fascinating how expectations can shape how we interact with art. My classification-seeking brain struggled to place Reclamation Pt. II, starting from thinking of the record as prog black, later moving onto prog death, and eventually realizing it was both but not quite in the way I was used to from either style. Though it has some issues with the production being too brickwalled and a relative lack of clear hooks, the level of the performances and near endless supply of amazing riffs makes Reclamation Pt. II a definite winner.

Recommended tracks: Sólfarið, The Distance, Leprosarium
You may also like: In Vain, Hail Spirit Noir, An Abstract Illusion
Final verdict: 7.5/10

1. Also known as being autistic ︎
2. This is not a diss, mind you, I love all of those bands for that exact reason. ︎

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page

Label: M-Theory Audio – Facebook | Official Website

Amiensus is:
– James Benson (clean + harsh vocals, guitars, keyboards)
– Alec Rozsa (guitars, harsh vocals, keyboards)
– Aaron McKinney (guitars, vocals)
– Kelsey Roe (guitars, vocals)
– Todd Farnham (bass)
– Chris Piette (drums)

With guest(s):
– Lars Nedland (clean vocals, track 5)

The post Missed Album Review: Amiensus – Reclamation Pt. II appeared first on The Progressive Subway.

Style: progressive black metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Opeth, Ne Obliviscaris, Enslaved
Country: Various states, US
Release date: 28 April 2024

The art of the double album isn’t something many bands can stick the landing on. When you say “double album” it either means an 80+ minute contemplation on a central theme or you had so much music you just wanted to release it all. The Ocean needed a duology to tell us of the rise and fall of all life on Earth TWICE over, and Roger Waters needed all 80 minutes of The Wall to tell us about his daddy issues. But a massive runtime often leads to meandering ideas that go nowhere, and to be quite frank, Amiensus are the last band I’d expect to tackle a 90 minute album.

Amiensus have been kicking for a lot longer than you’d expect, a whole fourteen years to be exact. In that time, they’ve done a whole lot of writing, rewriting, and refining of their craft. 2020’s Abreaction saw a drop in the more proggy elements, at least less than the orchestration-laden Ascension and Restoration, and was a small step backward for the band. Despite this, they’ve had a surprisingly consistent discography for such a small band, so I was excited for what should be their magnum opus. Wary, yet excited.

Right off the bat, everything seems more sprawling than Abreaction. Amiensus have have partially reclaimed that spark they had on their first two. Part one of Reclamation shaped up to be one of the most dense albums I’ve listened to all year. Amiensus fly through ideas in this fifty-one minute runtime, almost to a fault. Songs like ‘Consciousness Throughout Time’ see them emulate the serene grandeur of Insomnium, while the eight minute ‘Sun and Moon’ reminds me more of Alcest. 

What has immediately frustrated me about Reclamation Part I is the varying quality of songs that this album has to offer. The back half is some of the best bits of material Amiensus has put forward. Hell, I’ll go a step further to say this is an incredibly backloaded release, which I didn’t expect. There is so much to love once ‘Sun and Moon’ kicks in. The jaunty, folk melody of ‘Vermillion Fog of War’ that transitions into a Ne Obliviscaris-esque riff blew me away when I first heard it. 

But the first half of this album almost feels like it crawls from idea to idea, never truly sticking or developing much of anything. ‘Reverie’ flashes with shades of Kardashev-esque, wispy atmosphere  at the start, and while I can say the song is incredibly pretty, it doesn’t stick out like the album’s latter half does. The first half is pretty, but the songwriting feels underbaked and lacking. Ideas stick a lot more during the second half, and everything feels a bit more gelled together. ‘Transcendence Through Grief’ is the perfect way to end at a midpoint, with an all instrumental acoustic/electric combo slowly guiding Part I to a halt after the epic ‘Spoken Into Will’. 

This album’s rating truly hinges on how good Part II is. For the time being, I can say if you’re a fan of prog black, you’ll probably enjoy this. There’s a lot to like about it, but a double album is only as strong as its whole. With one half reaching a solid verdict in my mind, I can only hope the same for Part II. 

Recommended tracks: Sun and Moon, A Consciousness Throughout Time, Vermillion Fog of War
You may also like: Dessiderium, Aquilus
Final verdict: 7/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page

Label: M-Theory Audio – Facebook

Amiensus is:
– Alec Roza (guitars, keyboards)
– James Benson (vocals, guitars, keyboards)
– D. Todd Farnham (Bass, guitars)

– Chris Piette (Drums, keyboards)

– Kelsey Roe (guitars)

The post Review: Amiensus – Reclamation Part 1 appeared first on The Progressive Subway.