The album benefits from a good set of speakers, but even coming out of a small laptop you can tell these guys are good. This is their first album and I really hope they continue to push themselves, and I’ll be looking forward to hearing what comes next.
Maahlas are a progressive metal band from Norway, and Nightmare Years is their first album. This is a very strong debut album and should keep any fan of progressive metal happy for a good while. Throughout the album the tempo is changed frequently and the songs twist and turn very nicely without becoming a mess. While there are a fair few melodic guitar parts throughout the album, there is not much in the way of over the top shredding. It sounds to me like a lot of thought has gone into weaving all the lines together to create an impressive unit instead of having a star player screaming away over the rest of the band. Throughout the album I am reminded of a whole range of great artists, amongst them Emperor/Ihsahn, Opeth, Dream Theatre, Meshuggah and Devin Townsend. The vocals are mostly somewhere between a death metal growl and a hardcore yell, and lyrics are surprisingly clear at times and seem intriguing. Some clean harmonized vocals appear in the 4th song and add nicely to the range of sounds on the album. A quick search through their website will reveal the concept for this album, and it’s quite an interesting one. The 6th track is a short acoustic guitar and synth interlude between songs with some gentle percussion sounds in places. Like the clean vocals earlier, these extra sounds add to the variety of the album but never overstay their welcome or destroy the momentum of the album as a whole. The production on this album is as impressive as the music; everything is clearly audible yet when needed, and the music has a real sting in its tail and doesn’t cross over into the realm of the over-produced. The instruments are really well balanced and any lead parts are allowed enough power to stand out without overpowering the other parts. Synth parts are often used as a subtle texture although on occasion they come to the fore and add some extra melody. The clarity is really useful for this style of music as it allows all the details to be heard properly. The album benefits from a good set of speakers, but even coming out of a small laptop you can tell these guys are good. This is their first album and I really hope they continue to push themselves, and I’ll be looking forward to hearing what comes next. |
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