Prokopton

There are certain albums which, as I listen to them, make me feel grateful that I was alive and had high-functioning eardrums at the time that they were released. Prokopton is one of them. Some metal music is an acquired taste...you have to listen to it a couple of times before you get it. Prokopton makes immediate intuitive sense, and also holds up to repeated listens. Its high-level vision and attention to detail are spectacular.

Listening to the first three tracks of this album is like getting hit by an audio sledgehammer. The energy is extremely high, in a way that reminds me of punk music or stadium metal. But unlike bad punk music, which flails around like an overexcited squirrel, Aephanemer harnesses that energy to create a sense of epic drama. Just listen to the first twenty seconds of "Dissonance Within" and tell me that you don't get chills down your spine as the string ensemble conjures an approaching storm. Or try the first minute of "Prokopton," which begins contemplatively, with a hero walking down a garden path, before exploding into a tumult of ass-kicking. The intros on Prokopton are one of the album's great strengths. A lot of effort went into building soundscapes that the guitars can rock out on top of.

Many metal vocalists are sloppy--passion before precision. This vocalist, Marion Bascoul, manages both. In "Dissonance Within," the band alternates between two textures: staccato and syncopated vs smooth and elongated. The vocalist leads the way: she's crisp and precise in the staccato sections, and elongates her vocals beautifully in the smoother sections. On the marathon last track, "If I Should Die," she has to sing so quickly that I almost wonder how she manages it. She hits each of the beats without losing the gravel in her voice. Listen to how well she enunciates. It almost sounds like she's rapping at the two-minute mark (she isn't) because of how hard she's hitting her consonants. If you could see her on stage, my guess would be that she is spitting.

And yes, the vocalist is a woman. I wonder if you would've figured that out if I hadn't told you? I didn't the first time that I listened to the album. We hear her sing in an unaffected voice in the second half of "Snowblind," which is a great touch. She has an alto voice--perhaps even a tenor voice?--with a rich timbre.

A lot of bands have figured out that you can use string instruments to provide atmosphere and drama. See: Coldplay's "Viva La Vida." Unlike Coldplay, Aephanemer uses string instruments in ways that a classical composer would use them. The lines that they are playing are actually quite technical. The band has a great sense for what a violin sounds like and what it can do. One nice effect that I liked is that, at the beginning of "Dissonance Within" (sorry to keep going back to that), you can hear the sound that a violin's bow makes as it crosses between the strings, sharpening the drama.

I can't end the album without talking about the epic last track, "If I Should Die." It starts in a thoughtful, unassuming way, before the vocalist takes over and it becomes a wild carnival ride. The keyboards jump in and start grooving at around 4:30. This must be supremely fun to perform. The entire album has a sense of joy that becomes particularly vivid for me on that track.

All in all...yeah I recommend it. Obviously! Listen to it if you have any taste for metal at all.