'Appearance Of Nothing' is a Swiss progressive metal band that releases its 4th studio album 'In Time of Darkness'. The two founders 'Omar Cuna' and 'Marc Petralito' are still there but it's now 'Manuel Meinen' and 'Albert Ibrahimaj' who officiate on guitar and 'Ronnie Wolf' on drums. With this opus, they offer us a progressive metal not necessarily accessible at first listen but overall very melodic: 'Inside These Walls' is a very good introduction and shows all the talent of this progressive aspect with a rhythm section that ensures regular tempo changes and we can already note the presence, accompanying the clear singing, of 'Christian Älvestam' growls which will be present throughout the titles but still appropriately. Follows 'The Black Sea' which starts calmly with an acoustic guitar and the cello of 'Tina Guo' (who had made a remarkable performance with 'Joe Bonamassa' - see here), then who develops a first part rising in power until a rupture for a calm section then it is again a brutal rupture for a second powerful section where one finds some growls and the final offers a beautiful melody embellished with a remarkable guitar solo. With 'Storm', it is an alternation between heavy jerky riffs and a melody line that immediately enters into your head and highlights the singer 'Anna Murphy', ex 'Eluveitie', and who has recently founded a new group 'Cellar Darling '(see here), then,' Erase ', after a long introductory crescendo, develops a powerful theme with changes in tempos and intensity. The second part of the album features a powerful 'Deception' which is softened on the finale by a new heady melody, the powerful mid-tempo 'Disaster (Sweetest Enemy)' which sees the participation of singer 'Devon Graves', then 'Lost' which brings electronic sounds and sees the return of Anna for a new duet with Omar and the album ends on the 9 minutes of 'The Huntress' with a fast and powerful central part with growls and solos of keyboards and guitar that surrounds two beautiful melodic quieter parts and which ends in decrescendo on a repetitive theme. In summary, the Swisses of 'Appearance Of Nothing' release a very good album presenting all the ingredients of a progressive metal imaginative, varied and melodic, and as often enough in this style of music, 'In Times of Darkness' requires repeated listenings to tame it completely... | |
