ALBUM REVIEW: Means End - The Didact

Sometimes I find a relatively unknown and obscure band through the medium of online music blogs, and like them enough to buy an album. This is one of those situations, so many thanks to the guys at heavyblogisheavy for turning me on to these guys.

The wait for the album was relatively long, being that they're an independent and unsigned band. The parcel came, handwritten and hand posted, too. All very impressive so far, especially when you consider that Robin Portnoff did the artwork (and a lot of it too).

The music is the key here, though, so how do I summarise this band? Quite easily. They're djent-jazz-choir-core, obviously. No, but they've very tough to pigeonhole beyond 'progressive metal'. The band tend to eschew the usual verse-chorus-bridge format, instead following a flow through each song and refusing to drag the tracks out overlong. The only real comparison I can think of is TesseracT, in that Means End are more a band using texture and modd over dazzling technicality, although there are some very impressive performances from each of the four members. No overplaying or showboating, just playing for the song. We even get some jangly blaxploitation moments. When the guitar is playing a lead, the bass will come in and fill the sonic gap. Meaty.

The vocals are especially impressive, with singer Rob Luciani displaying perhaps a more impressive range than Christian Alvestam, and a voice that seems inherently more powerful. His growls are meaty and enunciated, his cleans are soaring and epic. He's also done a good series on how to improve vocally.

On the first iteration of this review, I griped slightly about lack of separation between songs around the midpoint of the album. In retrospect this was unfair; I was simply not listening closely enough, not paying the music the attention it deserves. Each track is a diverse maze of ideas that have been woven together, from the headbanging crunch of 'Omega Barrier', to the dreamy haze of 'Aeronaut' to the blast-laden 'Sun Wukong'. Lyrically, the album is as complex as the compositions, which is a nice treat.

I have to amend my original rating of 7/10 as well; it's a rare debut that brings all these factors together in a coherent package that you don't tire of.

9/10