Posithrone - Necropoles
Posithrone is a gothic dark metal band from Austria delivering their debut, "Necropoles". From the sci-fi titled tracks such as "Cybernetic Unions" and "Gen-Errator," many listeners may pass the group off as another cheesy cyber metal band. However, while the album is dense with keyboards and science fiction ideas, the musical structure of the album is quite interesting and doesn't make the keyboards cheesy or random while creating a sort of "rock opera" atmosphere along with darkened vocals that rasp out the lyrics along groovy guitar riffs and a few well placed drums.
Opening (and closing) with "La Follia Infernale pt. 1 and 2," the album is set for a creepy ambient mood. The keyboards are very haunted house funeral like and instantly set the tone that "Necropoles" will be a dark album. As it turns out, though, the album isn't TOO dark as "We Are the Way" opens into a very groovy, almost pop rock melody with the synth in the background. The vocals take on a watery snarl that don't really suit the music, but they get better later on. Eventually the keyboards get to show their style in a solo combined with a guitar and the vocals go into a semi black metal snarl, which is much better for the music, especially with an echo near the end. The more sci-fi tracks like "Cybernetic Unions" and "Alpha Galaxia" are strongly keyboard driven with the guitars and drums chugging along to perform some interesting rock riffs, but the main attention is to be given to the keyboards. Vocals are still snarled along, but not in a high pitched, annoying or cheesy type that bands like The Kovenant can go into. Other tracks like "Prodigal Soul" break the chug/chord rhythms of the guitar and offer some great melodic guitar pickings, as well as clean, mournful vocals along with the keyboards. There's also some great percussive tapping here from the drums that make this the highlight of the album.
Not all the tracks are spacey, though. "The Winter" is a short interlude which is mostly a big guitar solo that sounds like something from an Iced Earth album. It isn't terrible, but doesn't fit the mood of the album. "Necropolitan Day" is largely acoustic, following a gothic metal trend with only a few keyboard moments, making it a different, romanticized track compared to the rest of the album. "White Sun" is strong melodic metal with a great keyboard piano-like solo near the end, but the chorus holds a very grating, pop rock tune that takes away from the darkness and ambiance of the album. If this was a cover album it would be understandable, but since this is Posithrone's own work (according to them), it doesn't exactly fit on the album.
Despite having a few kinks in the mood, Posithrone's debut is certainly interesting. It merges sci-fi keyboards and themes with romantic riffs to create a style of cyber dark metal that isn't overly industrial nor cheesy and overplayed. Fans of The Kovenant, Poisonblack, and any gothic metal outfit will probably enjoy this a lot.
Opening (and closing) with "La Follia Infernale pt. 1 and 2," the album is set for a creepy ambient mood. The keyboards are very haunted house funeral like and instantly set the tone that "Necropoles" will be a dark album. As it turns out, though, the album isn't TOO dark as "We Are the Way" opens into a very groovy, almost pop rock melody with the synth in the background. The vocals take on a watery snarl that don't really suit the music, but they get better later on. Eventually the keyboards get to show their style in a solo combined with a guitar and the vocals go into a semi black metal snarl, which is much better for the music, especially with an echo near the end. The more sci-fi tracks like "Cybernetic Unions" and "Alpha Galaxia" are strongly keyboard driven with the guitars and drums chugging along to perform some interesting rock riffs, but the main attention is to be given to the keyboards. Vocals are still snarled along, but not in a high pitched, annoying or cheesy type that bands like The Kovenant can go into. Other tracks like "Prodigal Soul" break the chug/chord rhythms of the guitar and offer some great melodic guitar pickings, as well as clean, mournful vocals along with the keyboards. There's also some great percussive tapping here from the drums that make this the highlight of the album.
Not all the tracks are spacey, though. "The Winter" is a short interlude which is mostly a big guitar solo that sounds like something from an Iced Earth album. It isn't terrible, but doesn't fit the mood of the album. "Necropolitan Day" is largely acoustic, following a gothic metal trend with only a few keyboard moments, making it a different, romanticized track compared to the rest of the album. "White Sun" is strong melodic metal with a great keyboard piano-like solo near the end, but the chorus holds a very grating, pop rock tune that takes away from the darkness and ambiance of the album. If this was a cover album it would be understandable, but since this is Posithrone's own work (according to them), it doesn't exactly fit on the album.
Despite having a few kinks in the mood, Posithrone's debut is certainly interesting. It merges sci-fi keyboards and themes with romantic riffs to create a style of cyber dark metal that isn't overly industrial nor cheesy and overplayed. Fans of The Kovenant, Poisonblack, and any gothic metal outfit will probably enjoy this a lot.
- Intro (La Follia Infernale Pt. 1)
- We Are The Way
- Cybernetic Unions
- White Sun
- Prodigal Soul
- Gen-Errator
- Alpha Galaxia
- The Winter (Intermezzo)
- Necropolitan
- Outro (La Follia Infernale Pt. 2)
Sleaszy Rider Records
Reviewer: Colin McNamara
Apr 15, 2010
Apr 15, 2010
Next review:
Evil Wrath - Chaotical Invasion
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