Adytum
Echoes of Refuge
Northern Storm Records, 2007
By Emma Byrne
Adytum.
Adytum Adytum Adytum.
This is a hard album to review for several reasons, the main one being that it’s damn good. If only I hadn’t heard Opeth before; if only I could pretend to myself that the music on this CD was original — it’s like this group of really amazing musicians got together and went “Hmmmm, let’s write Opeth’s next album” and proceeded to do exactly that.
At least the vocals don’t resemble Mikael Akerfeldt’s, right? That alone lends a slight edge to Adytum’s music, and makes them stand apart from Opeth.
For the uninitiated: Opeth — and Adytum for that matter — are what I like to call “soft metal.” Soft metal means that the lyrical content is generally about things that are dark, dismal, and depressing. But the music is far from emotional post-punk (a.k.a. emo). The music is intense, and filled with depth, meaning, and complexities. Generally, within any type of metal, soft included, the heart of the music is not in fact the vocals, but the guitars. They lead the plaintive melody over the heavy bass line and elaborate drumming. As far as vocals go, there are two main types used: growling (death metal growls sound remarkably like Cookie Monster from Sesame Street), and clean vocals (that’d be singing). Death metal means that the thematic content is, not surprisingly, heavily related to death.
While I like to call Echoes of Refuge “soft metal,” technically the classification should be “prog-death metal.” “Progressive” means a few things. One, that the music can be in more than one time signature at a time (for example, drums playing a waltz beat, while the guitars opt for a more standard pop timing, and match up once every 12 bars). Two, that it changes keys more frequently than you can pretend to keep up with. Three, that it’s overall a fairly pretentious genre, and rightly so, as it probably requires more musicianship than other genres.
Despite the lack of even a hint of original thought on the CD, the fact that I’m even mentioning them in the same breath as Opeth means that the musicians in Adytum are top-notch. The skill required to play that calibre of prog-death metal is ridiculously high. The musicians are all talented players and exceptional songwriters. The growls are well done, too: raspy without losing inflection and interest. The only problem is the clean vocals: there’s no control at all, and they’re kind of shaky.
I’d give this album a high score for a good sound, and a low score for interest. It IS a good album. Also, I CAN promise that Adytum put on a way better stage show than Opeth ever will, so if you get a chance to check these guys out live, do it! And if you’re not worried about originality the way I am, and if you like Opeth’s sound, I’d also highly recommend this. Just don’t put it on if you want to experience something new and ground-breaking.
Maybe Adytum could start a new career as an Opeth tribute band?
Hah! I get it! Because they sound like Opeth!