Sci-Fi deathgrind, huh? Well I usually take deathgrind to mean industrial death metal with a speed issue. The sci-fi adds in ‘technical’ and probably a concept album. So there you are… Actually no, and besides Pulverised know waaaaay more about deathgrind than me so if they call it sci-fi deathgrind, that’s what it is. Nice cover too.
Quest Of Aidance are Swedish and this is their first full length after a demo and two EP’s, or more accurately a demo released in three differing formats. And the name? No idea. Though I’m sure a band effectively calling themselves Seeking Help would be a gift to the mean spirited. But I’m not, I hope..
So without a lyric sheet I have no idea if this is a concept album, but off we head.
The first thing that hits me is that this is NOT a featureless blur of tedious technical speed. We have keyboards and melody, hooks, and a great spine of progressive, even jazz touches here and there without detracting from the core deathgrind sound. Harsh vocals throughout but varied enough in delivery to not… er… grind… Yeah, there is a lot to like about this debut. I’d even go so far as to say that if you were, for some social experiment reason, attempting to introduce a power metal fan to the joys of deathgrind, Quest Of Aidance is where you start. The fine dramatic intro of A New Storm Rising with upfront keyboards and martial drumming would let them in on familiar but talented ground before Seething Voids smashed their teeth in. Full in your face sound, technical lead breaks and a kicking riff. Maybe the drum sound comes across as over triggered as it always seems to in this area but I’ve heard worse. It’s almost like a cleaned up Anaal Nathrakh in places it goes so full tilt for the face pummeling.
We get the first real twists of prog on Deadly Viral Strains, a choppy little jazz breakdown and some good use of up front keyboards but it’s To No Avail that really grabs me by the scruff and makes me dance. It is a superb punchy little number, rhythmically interesting and just built for headbanging. And Section 34 is a power-prog number with deathgrind breaks and a catchy keyboard hook that might have come from an early Skyfire album. They manage the time changes beautifully and it retains energy with a narrative feel; tricky to pull off. So they relax by obliterating you with 43 seconds of howling death metal grind in Anyx. Just in case you thought they had gone soft.
This is a very technical album, yes. The production is very bright and clean too. But Quest Of Aidance have a sound that still manages to make this neat technical cage rattle with a bit off pent up feral energy. Yes we have nods to Rush on Sothis Allegro with its echoing, gentle guitar behind the proggy, jazzed up guitar and strings but you know that Red Dust will come and drop something heavier on you after a fitting, slow build. Oh and more keyboard hooks to die for.
You know the best thing about this debut is that technical, deathgrind, power metal nor power prog are my natural areas of pleasure but this is so well written and constructed but so emotionally played I just fell for it much to my surprise. And, given a chance it has real potential to appeal to those more adventurous proggy or power fans as well as all the sub-genres of technical death. No mean feat. And it just doesn’t come across as calculated either, just natural.
This is a really fine start that I can’t, to my own surprise, find anything bad to say about it. I hope it finds its audience because it deserves to, and as I say they have the potential to cross over into a few audiences even with their deathgrind sound. Well done guys, well done.
(7.5/10 Gizmo)
https://www.facebook.com/questofaidance
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