You probably wouldn’t put Sydney’s The Amenta into the actual progressive metal category, however they are undoubtedly one of the more forward thinking metal bands around today. They do something completely different with every release, whilst still maintaining their unique identity. Whilst their debut ‘Occassus’ was an apocalyptic wall of symphonic black/gothic metal, and the follow up ‘nOn’ was more noisy and industrial and technology driven, ‘Flesh is Heir’ is comparatively raw and organic.
And the irony of that is, in doing so they will probably appeal more heavily to your more regular, conservative metalhead who only wants to hear guitar, bass and drums, dirty vocals and blast beats. They have stripped away some of the ‘avant-garde-ness’ inherent in their first two albums and created a relatively austere masterpiece. It’s still scary though, and not to be listened to alone in a dark room.
Undoubtedly one of the albums of 2013, and we’re only a third of the way through the year.
Live Photo By John Raptis
