The goal of Pantheon Magazine is to provide you, the music-listening hordes, with literary nourishment. With this goal in mind this article will discuss two bands who exemplify all things prog and metal…
-Cameron Davis
Meshuggah – “Chaosphere”
Highlights:
“The Mouth Licking What You’ve Bled”
“New Millennium Cyanide Christ”
“Sane”
The Prog:
The bass-heavy, polyrhythmic grooves presented in the album are reminiscent of funk and the guitar solos come straight from jazz.
The Metal:
The album is a testament to the delicate art of “head banging.”
A Mandatory Listen? NO
Chaosphere is an amazing album, but it is by no means a perfect one. Though the rhythms are mind blowing and the vocals are beyond perfection, some songs fall short. The final track “Elastic” includes an eight minute period of pure static which, in my opinion, deters from the general aesthetic of the opus.
Cynic – “Focus”
Highlights:
“Veil of Maya”
“Celestial Voyage”
“I’m But A Wave To…”
The Prog:
An amazing integration of jazz and extreme metal. Also, the vocoder used on the album was light years ahead of its time.
The Metal:
Cynic stands as god in the technical death metal community. Their Focus album is as necessary as Necrophagist’s Epitaph.
A Mandatory Listen? YES
Focus is the perfect album! There is no weak moment in this cosmos-altering masterpiece. I am not kidding, this album is quite possibly one of the finest moments in extreme metal history. Listen to it, own it, and let it reshape your musical reality.
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