One more to go before we sail out of January
Title: The Seven Deadly Sins
Artist: Humanity Gone
Nationality: American
Sub-genre: Progressive Metal
Release date: January 16 2021
Album number: 1
Familiarity: Zero
RYM Rating: n/a
ProgArchives Rating: n/a
Again I have to assume this is the band’s debut album; Glass Kites are the only artist with new album out this month that I have come across who are even known anywhere, so there’s nothing to contradict or confirm my supposition. I find it rather interesting that this is supposedly a prog metal band but they don’t have a keyboard player. We’ll see how that plays out. I also assume, given both the title of the album and that of the tracks, that this is a concept based on (anyone)...?
It kicks off with “Pride”, a sort of a slower, almost doomy feeling to it, vocalist (and drummer) Angelo Rivera clear and strong, if a little nasal, while Thelmo Rago thumps out the guitar chords like hammer blows. Some sort of spoken recorded track where someone speaks through a loudhailer, some pretty good soloing, then rather surprisingly “Wrath” is a more laconic sort of tune, when I would have expected Rivera would have been growling all over the place while Rago beat his guitar to death. I mean, it’s heavy, no doubt, but more grindy than I would have thought it would have been. Getting even more introspective now for “Gluttony” - kind of hard to imagine how that could be represented musically, if this is what Humanity Gone are trying to accomplish here.
I must say I very much like the vocal on this one, and how the guitar just punches your face in then flies into one heck of a solo but still manages to somehow keep it down, as it were. I definitely hear the prog metal in this. “Lust” is up next, should be interesting! Opens with reflective guitar, almost acoustic then kicks up hard and heavy, the lyric seems to make a very clear distinction between love and lust, drawing a comparison with violence and abuse. Rivera’s vocal is dark and slightly manic, I like the guitar histrionics here, almost neoclassical in nature against a slow, pounding drumbeat. Quite atmospheric. Staggered guitar riffs opening “Sloth”, which again belies its title by not dragging slowly along in funereal pace, but in fact thumping at a decent pace with snarling guitar and a tripping drumbeat.
“Greed” ups the tempo, bringing a heavier feel to the proceedings, and the album finishes on “Envy”, which also keeps things heavy with barking guitar and a rocking tempo, quite the air of menace about it.
Track Listing
1. Pride (7)
2. Wrath (7)
3. Gluttony (8)
4. Lust (7)
5. Sloth (7)
6. Greed (7)
7. Envy (7)
It’s certainly a competent album, and an interesting idea, however if the band intended to represent each of the Seven Deadly Sins through musical interpretation, I’d have to say that for me they failed here. At best, I think each sin is used as a general theme for the song built around it, but there are areas where I think they could have approached some of them differently. Perhaps that’s a good thing: they didn’t take the obvious route (angry on “Wrath”, slow on “Sloth” etc) but in the end I think I’m left with a feeling of what was the actual point?
I think the jury may remain out on this one for some time, but for now
