Piah Mater – Under the Shadow of a Foreign Sun

Brazilian progressive death metal outfit Piah Mater is back, delivering their third full length release with “Under the Shadow of a Foreign Sun”. Surprisingly, given the lush instrumentation and ornate arrangements, the band is primarily a duo, with Luiz Felipe Netto providing vocals, guitars, keys and string arrangements, alongside guitarist Igor Meira. Additional musicians on the album include Luan Moura on bass and Pedro Mercier on drums, as well as a larger number of guest musicians and vocalists throughout the album. Particularly, this includes a range of classical instruments to complement the traditional metal band lineup, with viola, violin, cello and flute making appearances.

Luiz Felipe Netto:

The music was written by myself. There is a riff in ‘Terra Dois’ that was inspired by an idea that Igor shared with me, but aside from that I’m to blame for what you hear in the record.

The band is a duo in the sense that its creative force, artistic vision and financial toll is concentrated in two people only. But the contribution of Luan and Pedro on bass and drums respectively was as determining for the sound of the record as any band would have. We spent a lot of time together in the same room fine tuning the arrangements to arrive at the final result. These guys are definitely not “hired guns” and we are friends for over a decade now. Igor and I have found out that things flow smoother when there are only two heads going back and forth with ideas so we opted to keep it simple like that.

Stylistically, the initial vibes of Piah Mater quickly draw comparisons to Opeth, particularly the early works. Netto covers a wide range of vocal techniques, from tasteful and expressive cleans down to guttural growls. The instrumental arrangements are intricate and do not shy away from extensive development of motives leading up to epic and large resolutions. While this may challenge the audience’s attention span, it is quite conducive to a deliberate and attentive listening session. Layers are numerous, yet arranged in a cohesive manner to avoid a confusing pull of attention. Jazzy and harmoniously perplexing sections provide a welcome change-up, allowing the grandeur of the higher intensity parts to fully shine.

It would not do the album justice to simply see it as a “what if Opeth had stayed on track after “Still Life?” The emphasis on the guest instruments certainly adds a unique touch; as every Rivers of Nihil fan will confirm, saxophone is a fantastic fit to Prog Metal, excellently on display in ‘Fallow Garden’. Portuguese vocals and bossa-esque instrumentation, heavily featured in the extensive opening movements of ‘Canicula’, clearly mark the albums origins far away from Scandinavia, in a cinematic and lushly ornamented listening experience. Noticeably peculiar percussion, as featured in ‘In Fringes’, further drives this point home. A proper resolution into the grandeur of wide and open melodic hooks, serves as a proper tie-in to round off the songwriting. As a result, the album maintains a cohesive flow and vibe despite the stacked and varied motives.

For longer-term followers of the band, a comparison to their earlier work reveals a clear development to a more mature sound. While their 2014 debut “Memories of Inexistence” features a certain raw abrasiveness in their heavy parts, “Under the Shadow of a Foreign Sun” feels more streamlined and sophisticated in its metallic parts.  Atmospheric sections with expressive clean vocals over fingerpicked guitars remain a staple of the band’s sound. As a result, Piah Mater has arrived in a top notch tier for their genre.

Luiz Felipe Netto on the album’s subject matter:

The theme that permeates each song in the album is the sense of disconnect one can feel with the country he was born and raised in and the ensuing ambition to escape that place. So in each of the tracks that idea is explored through a different prism, as the motivations for that departure vary from natural crisis, cultural shifts in the zeitgeist or a silent call from bygone ancestors.

Production-wise, “Under the Shadow of a Foreign Sun” features a clean and dynamic sound far removed from the squash of modern productions. Drums are low key and understated, with a tight and dry snare in lieu of the gunshot-like contemporaries. Key driving factor for the sonic vibe is the remarkable arrangement of various instruments, portraying a sense of expanse and depth while contrasting the archetypical Death Metal sections.

In true Prog fashion, the full length release consists of 5 long running songs all far surpassing the 8 minute runtime marks, undergoing a range of motives and change-ups to form elaborate musical storytelling. This pattern is only interrupted with the shorter, delay-laced guitar piece ‘Macaw’s Lament”, a remarkably expressive piece to lose oneself into for just shy of 3 minutes. A delicate and deliberate display of songwriting, it’s a true statement piece for the sheer amount of expression possible with the guitar alone.

Fans of prog metal of the 70s-influenced flavour, complemented with a guttural edge, ornate instrumentation and a south American touch, should look no further than Piah Mater’s latest release “Under the Shadow of a Foreign Sun”!

Track List:

1. As Islands Sink
2. Fallow Garden
3. Macaw’s Lament
4. In Fringes
5. Terra Dois
6. Canicula