ALBUM REVIEW: To Exit A Maelstrom – Feather Mountain
Death, loss and pain. These are unavoidable and unfortunately necessary parts of life. Yet, while they wield great influence in shaping who we become – oftentimes for the better – they are never easily processed. Time tells us, however, that music provides a reliable outlet for such emotional strife, and Danish progressive metal outfit FEATHER MOUNTAIN, through the exploration of losing a loved one to a long and unremitting illness, are prime evidence. Encompassed within their second major outing, To Exit A Maelstrom, FEATHER MOUNTAIN bring a genuinely refreshing new set of eyes to a field of copycats and nonstarters, taking leaps and bounds in their own creative maturity and chiselling their name ever clearer into the prog metal canon. This is a real act of growth for a band emerging from chrysalis in radiant beauty.
FEATHER MOUNTAIN‘s 2019 debut Nidus was a triumphant affair for a band still tentatively finding how best to cut their teeth. Establishing the quartet’s fondness for thematics laced in death, illness and existential inquiry, matched with an instrumental palette just as unforgivingly complex – the duality of their namesake, a world of fragile brutality, was born. Despite an auspicious start, there was no doubt that the Danes had more to give – that we had only just breached the iceberg’s tip. There was room to grow, and grow they have.
Nidus has clearly been a springboard for what was to come as To Exit A Maelstrom (wholesomely shortened to T.E.A.M) is a significant levelling up from three years past. The debut hosted a majestic soundscape, a maelstrom of its own that matched serene yet explosive vocal melodies with an extensive spine of restless instrumentals, establishing their prog credentials amidst a hard-pleasing crowd. T.E.A.M expands in almost every direction whilst also adding nuanced layers of grit to what was once an overtly welcoming palette. New springs of influence come forward to the spotlight, with flourishes of modern-age GOJIRA opening the jagged doors to August Mantra, guitar poetry to the rhymes of CALIGULA’S HORSE providing Cloud-Headed’s sweeping mid-section whilst faint whispers of Chuck Schuldiner hone the gnarled jaws of Pariah and Sincere; the esoteric lyricism only adding to the similarities. Few bands are able to borrow such potent strands of metal’s canon and emerge with something worth its own merit but FEATHER MOUNTAIN’s astute songwriting keeps T.E.A.M a proud and deserving effort.
Said songwriting could be seen as the very life force of the album as the band prove to be unrelenting in their changes of form. Surveying the tracklist sees drastic shifts from elaborate hard-hitters like August Mantra, Cloud-Headed and closer Maelstrom that beg to be dissected for all their non-linear paths of intrigue, to songs that play out as a crescendo like Beneath Your Pale Face that harnesses the tectonic gravitas of its atmosphere to lock listeners in place. Sprinkle the instrumental ebbs and flows of Air Hunger, the dire and desperate pair that is Sincere and Bliss, and whatever Pariah can be described as other than astonishing, and you find a band that has delivered in their self-proclaimed ‘hard-working’ manner. Every song earns its place and every song is a worthy prog metal gem in its own right. Gracefully, too, does the band know how to release such creativity. T.E.A.M could have easily been ordered in such a way that would render itself a disjointed maze but FEATHER MOUNTAIN show refreshing awareness of how powerful a tracklist’s order can be; T.E.A.M glides effortlessly from beat to beat as a result.
Is every beat as perfect as the next? No, perhaps not. August Mantra arguably holds itself in the same pose for a few minutes and Air Hunger could benefit from one of Pariah’s hideous breakdowns to give Maelstrom’s ten-minute heft a clean playing field to enter upon but these are simply marks of a relatively new band being, well, new. Besides, this is a drop in the ocean compared to what good comes of the band’s flawless execution throughout and the production suite’s effort to make four men sound like an army.
FEATHER MOUNTAIN offer the progressive metal scene something that, despite what it may think of itself, is hard to come by: genuine fresh blood. Few can offer such versatility in their ferocity whilst providing consistency to match, even fewer can do so with such style. Whether this is the record that breaks them is, sadly, in the hands of the music industry’s wicked sense of fairness but one thing is certain; they damn well deserve it.
Rating: 9/10
To Exit A Maelstrom is set for release on September 2nd via self-release.
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