Out Now
Words by Jimmy Glinster
I was supposed to review this album a couple of months ago but I didn’t and fuck knows why. Sometimes life happens, and then the craziness of Christmas jumps in, proper fucks shit up, and all of a sudden it’s almost February. But enough of the piss poor excuses for me being a lazy prick, let’s get into this, shall we?
What we have here is an album called Decompose by a progressive metal band out of Brisvegas called Citadel. I’ve not heard of these five blokes before but as I start to listen to the opening and title track Decompose, I quickly become a little confused as I thought I was about to listen to a heavy album. Turns out it’s not so heavy, but instead slow and brooding. The vocals are super clean as the song builds to eventually give us a taste of the heavy side of the band. Interesting, let’s see where this goes.
The following track Eons follows a similar path to its predecessor, but it gets a fair bit heavier a fair bit quicker. It doesn’t stay there for long though as it weaves back in and out of its melodic base. I’ve gotta say though, those grinding chugged grooves have got some serious bounce to them!
I’m about to freak the fuck out as Carnivore opens with some kind of disco thing until all of a sudden it fucking belts me with some pretty goddamn serious riffing and heavy as fuck vocals. They really don’t fuck around with this one, until they do, and it gets really melodic again for some reason. Luckily, they don’t fuck around with that too long though and the song kicks my ass all the way to its grinding finale.
I can’t even pronounce the name of this next track Oolacile, and I definitely couldn’t be fucked finding out what it means, but the groove of the intro instantly gets my attention. Much like the earlier tracks it takes itself on a mysterious journey. I can’t even type fast enough to keep up with the revolving door of riffs and odd tempo changes. This one is probably a little bit too prog for me to get into the vibe of, but musically it fucking belts!
If this next track is anywhere as good as the 2021 thriller flick of the same name, it could be pretty fucking terribly average. It’s not – average that is – but it is Malignant. Not in definition though, that’s just the name of the track. And again, while I’m talking straight-up shit, the song has taken at least 17 unexpected twists and turns, which is about 15 more than the thriller.
Fuck me, Spotify just dropped an ad on me. If only I’d pay them khunts, so they can keep 97 fucking percent of it and give the artists sweet fuck all. So, fuck Spotify, buy a physical copy off these fuckers!
Alright, back into it, with piano. Yeah, you heard right. Piano. Oh, and some clean vocals, a few tom fills and the odd hint of gospel-style chants. Rightio then, it’s a fucken ballad, and there is just no need for that, but luckily it does get heavy. Still a ballad though, just a fucking heavy one called Parasyte. And yeah, it feeds on you and then eventually ends up fucking your shit up.
Three to go, and next up is Our Sins. More piano, or synth maybe, over the top of a slow-picked guitar melody and some real clean vocals. It seems we come full circle to the start of the album, and to be honest I wish they’d just hurry the fuck up and get heavy again. Just on the halfway mark I get my wish, but it’s not exactly what I was hoping for, it’s just some heavy strummed and chugged chords over those unnecessary clean vocals. Heavy ballad, take 2, there better not fucking be another one, or I’m out of here!
Sundered Souls doesn’t sound like a good time, even though I have fuck all idea what sundered means. Anyway, it starts slow much like the others, but this time around it gets much heavier and much groovier much quicker. Again, it cycles in and out of the melodic and heavy sections. Due to my very short attention span, I just wish to fuck they’d get there and stay there, but they rarely do. It is progressive after all.
As the album expires, we are treated to our final serve aptly titled Expire which again is much of the same formula. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad formula, but much like baby formula It’s and an acquired taste, even though a forced one.
Well, like every great prog album, that was a fucking adventure. And it is a great prog album, especially for a debut. Personally, it’s not my flavour, but I know it is the flavour of many others and I have no doubt that Citadel will very quickly gather themselves a solid, loyal fanbase and rock the fuck out all over the place.
Meanwhile, I’ll be up the back drinking jack, and ignoring them like a stuck-up elitist Prog snob.
