Connection vs. The Great Divide. Vermillion & Vexier. Dive in!

How the hell do you follow up a debut album that was a complete stroke of genius like Soulsplitter’s “Salutogenesis”? (Read my 10/10 review here!) Well, some of the original charm and magic of “Salutogenesis” was to be found in its wonderful diversity and lots of different (guest) vocal performances, but in a way that also left them a bit of a creative freedom in defining the Soulsplitter sound. And with Sami Gayed stepping up as full time singer in the meantime, they are finally back with their sophomore effort, “Connection”. More focused and concise, the Germany based collective is still able to paint compelling musical pictures as well as telling fascinating stories. Is “Connection” as amazing as “Salutogenesis”? Or even better maybe? That’s hard to say really, that would be like asking whether “A Social Grace” or “Into the Everflow” is better (The two first Psychotic Waltz albums that are both a solid 11/10 in my book, even though they sound very different from each other). Refined and mature, maybe a bit more introvert and less exuberant, one thing is for sure: “Connection” is another breathtakingly beautiful album, a companion I will surely cherish for years to come and I’ll be damned if it won’t end up very high in many an Album of the Year list in about 9 months. Dario

Finland’s Oddland take their time completing their studio albums. But the 4 years between their 2012 debut smasher “The Treachery of Senses” and the towering sophomore effort “Origin” in 2016 were well worth the wait. So were the 6 years until now, until the release of their third album, “Vermillion”. Oddland haven’t lost a single bit of their complexity and heaviness, that’s always tied to a serene melody courtesy of Sakari Ojanen’s serenely smooth baritone vocals. Whereas “Origin” featured 9 individual and compact onslaughts, “Vermillion” takes a more epic approach with its 5-part title suite and a calmer, shorter interlude with ‘Pathway’ before the ‘only’ two full ‘normal’ songs, ‘Resonance’ and ‘Unity’. So, where Soulsplitter’s “Connection” is more concise compared to its predecessor, the opposite is the case with Oddland diversifying their sound and letting melodies and ambience shine more and more between their heavy (and also heavily complex) riff massacres. Imagine a Mikael Åkerfeldt who has taken some classical vocal lessons, singing with the djentiest band that decidedly is not djent. Or something like that. In any case, a new Oddland album is always a reason to celebrate, rare and odd as it may be. Dario

Now, even though we didn’t have any blastbeats in hyperspeed going on in our Highlights of the Week so far (you can find that kind of stuff with Arkaik and SYK’s new albums for example), especially Oddland was quite the heavy and complex affair. So how about some meditative, ritualistic psych-doom courtesy of E-L-R for a change? The swiss trio is presenting their sophomore full length, “Vexier”, today and it’s full of hypnotizing rhythms and mesmerizing drones. A state of trance is reached very quickly and their repetitive post doom sounds remind me of their British soulmates of Five the Hierophant from time to time, albeit with some hazy vocals instead of a saxophone. What feels like an autumn release somehow just at the first signs of spring? Why not? Sign me up! Dario

To round off today’s Highlights, we have a new album from Canada’s The Midgard Project: “The Great Divide”. For his second album under this moniker, initiator and guitarist Marty Midgard enlisted the considerable vocal talents of ex-Iced Earth and once-again-Into Eternity singer Stu Block. What we’re dealing with here is some traditional, powerful symphonic prog metal à la Symphony X or Adagio, a style that has fallen a bit out of fashion in the prog world lately, and while the wheel is certainly not invented again here, the quality at hand is undeniable. There is a bit much of that straight forward gallopping power metal style going on in the middle of the album for my tastes (The Wolf and the Raven), but all in all “The Great Divide” is a fun record that is carrying the torch of a somewhat neglected subgenre. So you should definitely risk an ear or two if you’re into this kind of metal. Dario