Artist : CastAway

Album : Before We Drown

Release Date : 22-11-2019

Added : 04-01-2020

'CastAway' is a Slovak band that released their first album in 2006 (see here) and it’s with this 3rd studio recording ‘Before We Drown’ that I discovered them. After a first listen, I did not manage to put them in a particular metal style because this opus contains multiple influences and I needed several listenings (generally it's a good sign) to appreciate it for its fair value. Very varied, each composition brings its own personality and finally, the Slovaks mix rock and progressive metal and the good example is 'Seeing Man' which concentrates in 6 minutes an admirable richness with different nested parts alternating fast and slower tempos and also significant alternations of intensity but with melodic lines always relatively accessible. In this same register we can also cite 'Feed You Lies', 'What Shadows Portray' and 'The Last Days (Before We Drown)' in which it is good to get lost but some compositions have more conventional constructions with less breaks in tempo and intensity like 'In Labyrinths' or 'No One Sees God' or the beautiful ballad 'One Sentence' or the energetic 'Fallen' in a hard-rock atmosphere of the 70s and this mixture is very appreciable because it brings remarkable diversity to the album.

In summary, the Slovaks of 'CastAway' released an excellent album mixing different styles of progressive but which is relatively accessible thanks to catchy melodic lines and, even if they have their own personality, if you like formations like 'Dream Theater' (see their latest album here) or 'Threshold' (see their latest album here), you should probably appreciate 'Before We Drown'...

Line Up / Musicians

Mayo Petranin (Vocal), Peter ‘Petruccio’ Bulík (Guitar), Zoltan Daraban (Bass, Vocal, Guitar), Janko ‘Hraško’ Kovár (Drums), Andrej Kutiš (Keybords, Vocal) + Guests : Paolo Giordano (Voice), Roland Grapow (Guitar), Adam Mičinec (Keybords, Guitar), Stefano Urbani (Vocal)