As the title suggests, the theme of this album is the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79AD. An epic prog journey is promised by Dark Quarterer, in their 40th year and now releasing their eighth album.
The spooky start is reminiscent of Dimmu Borgir’s “For All Tid”, but that fades and what follows is what I would describe as epic theatrical prog doom. It’s now more like Cathedral with highly dramatized vocals. “Vesuvius” takes off with a 70s style organ, and provides an even more retro image with a section reminiscent of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown’s “Fire”. But this is impossible to buttonhole as the progressive metal style means constant transformation, so there’s a guitar solo, power metal style vocals and chunky doom all mixed into the drama. I can’t claim this is easy listening. The vocalist stands on his pedestal again on “Welcome to the Day of Death” as the complex instrumental drama rages behind him. The highlight of this track was the ending. Triggered by a keyboard section, a flurry of metal energy ensues and brings “Welcome to the Day of Death” to a dramatic close. “Panic” encompasses numerous possibilities. This is the title of the next song. Again, it’s a complex theatrical performance. The high in the range vocalist narrates the story, but as on “Welcome to the Day of Death”, the pleasure for me was not in the laboured delivery of the story but the instrumental progression as the energy mounts and builds up to epic bombast before closing out with a piano piece. I understand how “Panic” would fit into the theme but the music didn’t reflect it, I thought. There’s a super jazz piano piece on “Plinius the Elder”, which comes out the other side as a dramatic and sky-reaching rock-metal section. These were the moments I enjoyed the most about this album. Such moments were dynamic, but I struggled with the cohesiveness and found the lyrics and exaggerated vocals distracting. Darkness and choristry run through the complex structure of “Gladiator”. I missed its point as an entity. “Forever” probably highlights more than other the range of creative ideas that Dark Quarterer have. The balance of this one worked better than most. The vocalist has his moment to pronounce his reflections without distraction or strain, which is better from a listening point of view, and the instrumentals arise out of them to deliver a dramatic and thoughtful ending.
“Pompei” is without doubt an ambitious and artistic work. It’s evident that a lot of thought has gone into it. I found it difficult to listen to. It’s a good theme to pick, in so far as there is such a thing as a “good theme”, but with an unintended battle going on between the progressive metal instrumentals and at times strained and always theatrical vocals, I struggled to make the connection between the theme and the musical presentation. As a result I found myself appreciating moments and individual passages more than I appreciated the whole.
(6/10 Andrew Doherty)
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