(Instrumental Prog Metal) Aziola Cry - Ellipsis - 2005, MP3, 320 kbps

If you like instrumental prog in the style of Gordian Knot, but would like to hear that sound carried out with a bit more metal to it, then Aziola Cry is the band for you. These guys do have a bit in common with that other band, but they also share musical textures with Rush, Dream Theater and other metal bands.

This is a disc that takes a while to permeate. With the first few tracks you may experience a certain sense of alienation (I did), but, by the end, the ride has been so captivating that you'll find yourself ready to start it all over again. It should be mentioned that when I talk about keyboard sounds or guitars in most cases the music is actually coming from Stick, but to the average listener it will probably seem more like the instrument I mention. For those unfamiliar, the stick is an instrument that in many ways is similar to a combination of a bass and electric guitar - as one instrument. It is, however, capable of creating sounds that closely mimic many electronic instruments.
The album is made up of eight instrumental compositions. I find "Ellipsis" to be free of any direct traces of others' achievements, but since its makers assert they are influenced by King Crimson, Tool and Gordian Knot, I will venture to maintain their suggestion to speculate on the topic and even to continue the line of the trio's latent teachers in absentia. Most of the basic themes are set up by the Stick, which we also have in the case of Gordian Knot indeed, though on the other hand there are no improvisations on "Ellipsis", at least genuine ones. Not exactly the execution, but at least the construction of many guitar riffs refers to Black Sabbath. The occasional Techno Thrash structures evoke associations with the mid-period Voivod and the earliest Sieges Even, amongst the other adherents of harsh-and-heavy progressive music with no keyboards.
The strong predominant low tones and dark colors in conjunction with a raw energy and the presence of exclusively odd meters on the first piece, Ellipsis I, makes me think of it as of a nicely angular Doom/Cathedral Metal. (It needs to be said that complex time signatures are one of the hallmarks of the material as a whole.) Ellipsis II begins with an inventive interaction between the solos of drums and Stick; Shadow Lies features some beautiful atmospheric arrangements in the middle section. Overall however, both are designed to evolve the direction paved on the opener and are the most unique, complex and compelling Doom Metal-related works I've heard in years. The hypnotically repetitive guitar riffs typical of the said genre are an integral part of The Trembling Edge as well, but they much more frequently shift in tempo this time around and are always accompanied by the ingenious passages of Stick and acoustic guitar. The most intricate events are free of any heaviness at all, but nonetheless the music remains dark, disturbing and mysterious alike, almost throughout. However this is not the case when the band follows some specific formula far and wide. One of the tracks that best of all display the seriousness of the band's ambitions, When Soft Voices Die is mostly fast and intense, very effectually combining, say, aggressively progressive arrangements with those of intellectual guitar Art-Rock, still featuring a rather strong acoustic component. Very complex, yet instantly attractive. The composition has also some sense of English folk music. It very rarely manifests itself in open form, but when it does, I hear some echoes of the progressive Folk Metal stalwarts from Great Britain, Skyclad. On each of the remaining two longer pieces the acoustic guitar plays a very important role, in places being much more often brought to the fore than its electric counterpart, though it's Stick which sets the fashion in most of the soloing battles here, as well as everywhere on the album. Ellipsis III and In Your Dissolving Arms are much less angry and, on the other hand, are positively much less disciplined than most of the other pieces. Both are masterworks of electrically acoustic Stick- and guitar-laden Prog with occasional, yet still essential, excursion into the area of Metal.

Jason Blake - Warr guitar
Mike Milaniak - guitars
Tim Stickradt - drums