The Era of the Fifth Sun
American
Line label didn’t accustom me to releasing such titles. And I’m not writing
about quality, but the genre of metal is the thing that is thrown in: technical
death metal. The roster of this Mexican company is full of grind, gore, death
or black murderous exhalements, but technical is missing if I’m right. On that
account, it’s great that “From the Fifth Sun” is a strong point in Joel Morales
large family. But from the beginning, Disangelium is rather young band arisen
in 2008, with two persons Osvaldo Trejo and Armando Hernández known from
Archetype. Rehearsals and recording process brought a debut album on October
last year. The band and the main composer Osvaldo didn’t waste his precious
time on providing any demos, cd-rs or digital promos. Thus, Disangelium attacked
with full-length at once, taking my senses by storm…
…because
the first meetings with this album were kinda of shock. I mean, I didn’t expect
such a good musical form. Many bands dealing with technical side of the metal
genre are rather soulless musician parades serving sonic slack-baked bread.
Mexicans avoided it luckily… But before the music, some words about production
should be given. Yes, that’s right, it is modern, but the producer (yes, you’re
right, again Mr. Trejo) did a splendid job, especially when it comes to the
bass lines of Gustavo Esparza. Simply this instrument hasn’t been mistreated. Anyway,
decent sound realization isn’t determinant to commit to paper any doxologies,
yet my dissection has to refer to mentioned genre, because the band isn’t
technical death metal fully. It’s evident Disangelium’s offer has shades of
Necrophagist (but without those blast beats Hannes Grossmann did) and Theory in
Practice, but Mexicans didn’t use keyboards. These two famous bands are the main
artists that come to my mind. But, some paths leading to the kingdom of melodic
side of death metal (mostly in old Dark Tranquillity vein) are noticeable as
well, just like some touches of progressive metal (several guitar leads and
slowdowns).
I have
liked this album since the first spin. For a start, it is digestible, and I
repeat once again, the music flows freely and naturally, luckily missing the
impression ‘poor yokels, look at us and see how great musicians we are!’. And despite
of many broken and mazy structures (especially in “Flowery Wars”) and rather
fast tempos. It makes the band perfectly avoids the musical stagnancy bringing
on the table really crushing riffs: genial “A New Born Life”, „Flowery Wars” or
“Visions of a Falling Empire”, where Osvaldo added catchy guitar leads as well,
not softening the whole luckily. Also interesting slow-downs can be found that
uncover layers of… beauty. Yes, exactly, just take a listen to the beginning and
ending of mentioned “A New Born Life”, the middle part of “Ascension” or
“Flowery Wars”, not mentioning about the last “Land of Ruins” with its
paralyzing opening fragment. Sometimes the feeling of beauty is replaced by
reflectiveness moments making spectacular visions in my mind. I can praise
Osvaldo performance all the time, yet the work of rhythm section should be
mentioned too. And if the drums parts are just ok, the instrument of Gustavo
really kicks my ass: it’s great to hear it in such form remembering that
Osvaldo is the leading man here. It is very seldom to find the albums with such
kind of bass production in the underground, in addition Gustavo is a gifted
beast offering his skills in a really proper (killer!) way making the “From the
Fifth Sun” album simply better and more exciting. And yes, this is instrumental
side. Vocally, Rodrigo Miranda (marked as a session member) gives varied lines:
from blackish-like shrieks to even guttural vomits. And he completes the album
without any signs of getting bored.
Thus, has
this album any defects? I think the band should debate the using of melodic
death metal parts. I mean, is it better just to get rid of it to a greater
extent. Simply some moments impoverish the general impression. Such a small
disaster takes place in the ending song “Land of Ruins” despite of great
opening drowned in the sounds of rain and thunderclaps. And even if Disangelium
offers tempo changes, the base here is the riffing known from Dark Tranquillity
and “The Mind’s I” era. It doesn’t fit to the general musical concept of the
album, as it served as the main factor of the song. That’s true that some
melodic death metal moments have been stuck in several songs (“Disangelium”,
“Soul Trapped”), but it is given in a way I can’t recall any Swedish
sugariness. The band remains brutal. And if the choosing the best track on the
album is rather hard task (maybe “A New Born Life”? Or “Flowery Wars”…), I can
indicate the weakest one without any problem. And only because of these poor
sounds I mentioned above…
Disangelium’s
musical contrasts gave me so many fruitful meetings exploiting with different forms
of emotions. The whole has been strengthened by the lyrics written by Osvaldo.
The created words guide to the Mexica (or better known Aztec) image and
conception of our world showing incredibly rich heritage of the bygone times. What
is interesting, in the booklet, Osvaldo openly asks “¿Are we not Mexicans? Authentic Mexicans?”, forcing to cogitate about
the past, the present and the future. Simply this is another factor to praise the album. Bringing it to a
close I am sure and comfortable about the next musical and lyrical steps of the
band. Maybe I’d like to hear less melodic death metal parts or even not to find
them next time, yet I know that the talent of Osvaldo and his pals will take me
to another dimension of Mexica legacy… I can’t wait for the next strike.
90/100
-Tlacaxipehualiztli
(written on February, 2015)
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