post-metal / sludge
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Dutch sludge combo The Fifth Alliance is no longer an unknown entity in the post-metal scene. In 2013 their highly acclaimed debut album turned a lot of heads in their direction, with good reason too. These guys (and girl) from Breda can come up with a brutal live show. Now wonder that Belgian label Consouling Sounds picked up these guys for a second album. And what an album it has become.
Slow, agonizing pieces of sludge metal, alternated with immersive post-metal passages are still the key to The Fifth Alliance's music. Above that wall of noise, vocalist Silvia Berger spews out her anger, frustration and fear in a highly disturbed manner. The biography mentioned 'as if she is lamenting the loss of a loved one', and I second that. The, at times almost blackened, vocals of Silvia are in no way inferior to her male colleagues, on the contrary perhaps.
Musically, you can rest assured that this is a high quality post-metal album along the lines of bands like AmenRa, Downfall Of Gaia or Cult Of Luna. There are also some black metal elements present, mostly in some of the guitar riffs and here and there also in the fierce blast beats. These elements add plenty of variation which is quite welcome. I often find sludge and post-metal albums quite one-sided but The Fifth Alliance certainly solved that problem.
The four tracks blend quite well into one another, resulting in a massive, crushing piece of extreme doom. My favorite track is closer 'Dissension' but the entire album shows an evolving and growing band. No doubt that they will fill venues with frenzied audiences everywhere with stuff like this. I probably won't be one of them, since I very, very, very rarely go in freak-out mode but I will stand in the back of the venue, smiling because I was right.
Serge
Slow, agonizing pieces of sludge metal, alternated with immersive post-metal passages are still the key to The Fifth Alliance's music. Above that wall of noise, vocalist Silvia Berger spews out her anger, frustration and fear in a highly disturbed manner. The biography mentioned 'as if she is lamenting the loss of a loved one', and I second that. The, at times almost blackened, vocals of Silvia are in no way inferior to her male colleagues, on the contrary perhaps.
Musically, you can rest assured that this is a high quality post-metal album along the lines of bands like AmenRa, Downfall Of Gaia or Cult Of Luna. There are also some black metal elements present, mostly in some of the guitar riffs and here and there also in the fierce blast beats. These elements add plenty of variation which is quite welcome. I often find sludge and post-metal albums quite one-sided but The Fifth Alliance certainly solved that problem.
The four tracks blend quite well into one another, resulting in a massive, crushing piece of extreme doom. My favorite track is closer 'Dissension' but the entire album shows an evolving and growing band. No doubt that they will fill venues with frenzied audiences everywhere with stuff like this. I probably won't be one of them, since I very, very, very rarely go in freak-out mode but I will stand in the back of the venue, smiling because I was right.
Serge
