Album Review: Patriarch

The first thing I noticed when I graced my eyes upon Patriarch, by Auckland progressive metal band Seasons, is the cover… and as much as they say “don’t judge a book by its cover” I judged it right, I love the artwork and the music meets the mark.

Originally known as Resporn, the band have been a regular on the Auckland metal scene for quite a few years now but after 2011’s full length release the band chose to take on a name that represented their musical direction.

Patriarch is a stunningly recorded album, bone crushingly brutal with huge atmospheric value – listening toPatriarch really pushes me to check out a live show because I really want to see this pulled off with 1 guitarist. The production is great, the only thing I could really say against it is that the vocals are a little too low in the mix and the vocalist could try spicing things up a little more from time to time… though hardly a one trick pony, perhaps it’s just the volume thing as it means I have to really focus on the vocals to hear any lyrical hooks and by doing that I miss out on what the other band members are doing which in this case is a bad thing cos you DON’T want to miss what they are up to!

I guess it comes as no surprise that local producer/audio engineer Zorran Mendonsa is the man that captured the album and added synths and programming to the tracks, which really does add another dimension to the album as a whole.
As far as picking a favourite track goes, hmmmmmmm, it’s tricky because the album flows so well therefore each track builds up to the next but if I was pushed for a favourite it would be Eutopia, rightfully picked for a pretty epic music video that is fully worth finding on YouTube but heed this warning A.D.D kids…. it’s 7 and a half minutes but is only half as long as the track Odysseus which clocks in at over 13 minutes long, though the tracks never drag on… just take your Ritalin and share it around, you’ll either completely zone into the music or completely loose your s**t!

NZ metal is on the rise with bands such as Seasons, Tainted, Subtract and 8 Foot Sativa all releasing albums that would easily compete on the international market… now if only people would BUY rather than rip albums 😉

Find Seasons on Bandcamp, Facebook and YouTube … seriously, stop whinging about the local metal scene and buy albums… for your health!!!!