Persefone’s metanoia (Napalm Records) opens and it feels as if I’m watching an Andrew Lloyd Weber Broadway musical. Metanoia is atmospheric and grandiose; one would expect nothing less from Persefone. ‘Katabasis’ explodes onto the listener with a bombastic array of seventies progressive rock and psychedelia feel. Marc Martins Pia has shades of Yaz and Freddy Mercury on the opening track juxtaposed with the guttural vocalizations of death metal. The guitar work of Carlos Lozano Quintanilla and Filipe Baldaia are a wild mixture of mathematical genius, LSD, and a plethora of thirty-second note runs. ‘Katabasis’ can be an intense listen. 

This album is not for casual listening, though and being a true aficionado of progressive metal music may help in terms of fully enjoying metanoia. If mathematically precise, progressive metal is not your thing, then this could be overwhelming to the senses. If you like a challenge or can cope with musical battery and sensory overload, and if you need something to lose yourself in; then metanoia could be the album for you.

‘Architecture of the I’ starts out in a sci-fi vein. The eighties sci-fi movie soundtrack melds effortlessly into a sixties, early seventies jam band that has primal death metal urges and virtuoso guitar runs. All of this happens in the first one hundred and thirty seconds of the song. From the shifting time signature to the syncopations, Persefone’s metanoia is a lot to take in. Every song has a rich musical landscape that swirls with colours and emotions. There is movement both visually and aurally; almost overwhelming the senses. 

If Dante’s Inferno, or German Expressionism in silent horror films were albums, it could be reflected in Persefone’s metanoia. A perfect example is ‘Leap of Faith’. A standout track on the album, ‘Leap of Faith’ first builds anxiety, next the tension becomes palpable, and at 3:47 the track explodes into this massive force. The music is expansive; like the Atlantic Ocean during a Nor-easter; finally, the feeling of ‘Leap of Faith’ comes crashing down into a modest summer rainfall for the last 20 seconds or so. This is followed by ‘Aware of Being Watched’. This is a complicated fusion of differing elements. It’s part Tool, part Yes, part Dream Theater.  

This is a complicated album that can be discordant, explosive, polyphonic, noisy, and pure all at the same time. 

Buy the album here: https://smarturl.it/Persefone-metanoia

6 / 10

VICTORIA ANDERSON