Progressive metal is something I tend to stay away from.
While I’m not fundamentally opposed to all of the essential traits of the
style, I find that it’s not usually something done all that well in practice. With that
said, “Cynosure”, the second record by Canadian metal group Viathyn, is a
definite exception. It still features a couple of things I really dislike in
progressive metal: exceptionally long albums (64 minutes in this case), and
somewhat meandering songs that don’t conform to the standard (or even
identifiable) song structures. In spite of these characteristics, this is a
really good album, which says something about the things Viathyn is doing
right.
Part of what makes “Cynosure” such an interesting listen is
that it draws influence from a variety of sources. Some might call this power
metal, and that's certainly a dominant sound that is mixed with prog here.
There are lots of soaring melodies, and while the vocals do not sound like
Michael Kiske, they would not be out of place in a Helloween-esque band. Viathyn
transcend the power metal label though. The guitar solos are incredibly
virtuosic, and though they can resemble a band like Gamma Ray, they just as
often resemble shreddier artists like Jeff Loomis or Michael Angelo Batio. In
fact, on “Shadows In Our Wake”, the band pays tribute to the god of shred,
Jason Becker. There is a lengthy section in this song where the guitars are
clean and play harmonized classical leads. Anyone familiar with Becker’s “Perpetual
Burn” will love this section, and it proves to be the highlight on the entire
album. Another way Viathyn mixes things up is that they use harsh vocals (see “The
Coachman” and “Albedo”, among others). These gutturals are relatively well
performed, and in no way resemble anything in the metalcore realm. On “Countess of Discordia”, there is quite a bit of tremolo picking that will please
fans of more extreme metal. The connection to extreme metal is also very
evident in the rhythm section. The band’s drummer is quite active as he varies
up different drumbeats. While there aren’t any blast beats, nor streams of
absurdly fast double bass, there are plenty of interesting fills and rhythms. This
diversity helps keep things interesting over the course of a very long record.
“Cynosure” does have the occasional flaw. The biggest
offender here is the use of laid-back, quieter parts. Quite a few minutes of “Time
Will Take Us All” lacks vocal power, simply because the music is too tame to
support the great voice of Viathyn’s singer. Likewise, “Albedo” has some of
these moments as well. When both tracks pick up the pace, however, they manage
to sound equally as potent as anything else on the album. Ultimately, it is
easy to recommend this album to anyone who digs any kind of progressive music,
and even for those of us that are naturally averse to it, there is still plenty
of quality offered by Viathyn on “Cynosure”.
Highlights
"The Coachman"
"Shadows In Our Wake"
Final Rating
4.1/5 or 82%.
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