Wills Dissolve - Echoes

On the 28th Of August, progressive death metal band Wills Dissolve releases their second album 'Echoes' on Hypnotic Dirge Records. 

Tracklist:

1. Echoes (31:36)

With just one track that lasts half an hour the band from Houston, Texas takes you on a journey into the endless void of space. To name their record 'Echoes' takes guts. Obviously, the band is hugely influenced by Pink Floyd and their masterpiece 'Echoes' is unparalleled. However, Wills Dissolve pulls out all the stops. They paint a science fictional picture of a star-filled purple vortex. In the end, a giant black hole lurks, like the mouth of an all-devouring cosmic giant. 

 The story is about an astronaut who travels to the outer rims of space to find a new home for humanity. Musically we hear a wide variety of influences; the clean guitar parts take you back to the quieter parts Rush's 2112 with Mikael Akerfeldt from Opeth on vocals. When the death metal kicks in the growls sound like the Opeth frontman but the death metal is nothing like Opeth, it's much more brutal, almost tech-death. To add atmosphere Wills Dissolve added vocals that were recorded through a vocoder to get a futuristic 2001: Space Oddity feel. And there is a flute solo near the end of the record that does sound like something Porcupine Tree would do. 

 But listening to this synthesis of post-metal, prog metal and death metal is a demanding task. The distance between post-metal and death metal is large and there should be something in between to bridge that gap. And there isn't enough of that on this album. The transitions on this record are somewhat rushed. The death metal parts don't get enough time to be truly aggressive and the atmospheric parts are too short to engulf you. And that's a shame because the ideas and the musicianship are there. But it isn't captivating like a record like this, with just one song should be. Then again, this is a young band. Who knows what the future holds? I hope it's not a black hole. 

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