Style: Death/Opeth (mixed vocals)
Review by: Sam
Country: Brazil
Release date: 05-10-2018
NOTE: This album was originally included in the October 2018 issue of The Progressive Subway
Someone recommended me this band on Shreddit based on my love for Hands of Despair and Disillusion, two bands who have an album in my top 10 favorites of all time list, so I was supremely hyped to review this band. These Opeth-styled extreme progressive metal bands, if done Well, somehow manage to hit all my sweet spots. How naturally they’re able to switch between intensity without resorting to formulaic-ness is just mind blowing to me. Incorporate some extra nostalgia and emotion (Disillusion), and bam, you have my favorite album of all-time. So how does Piah Mater compare to these lofty standards I have for this genre?
One word: Opeth. That’s really all there is to say. I expected a band who took Opeth-like structures and did their own thing with it, but rather what I got was just Opeth-worship instead. It’s very competent worship, but worship nonetheless. As an acquaintance said on the discord, “this is it’s own thing but it sounds like one of those TV shows that uses a knockoff song to avoid copyright”. This almost literally to the point where, for every idea on this album, you can find an Opeth-song which did the same thing (but better). From the singing to the death growls to the guitar stylings to the drumming everything just screams Opeth. For the other mathematicians reading this, if there was a map between Opeth’s discography and Piah Mater, it’d be a bijection. I mean I enjoy Opeth, but if you’re just gonna rearrange their ideas even I will lose interest, no matter how talented you are.
If you are still living in denial about the fact that Akerfeldt stopped growling, this band can keep up that reality for you. But if you’re looking for something original, I’d rather go with something else like Hands of Despair, Loneshore or Uroboros and don’t bother with this one. This band clearly has talent, but if they really wanna gain any traction they’ll have to start doing their own thing.
Recommended tracks: Sprung from Weakness, The Meek’s Inheritance
Recommended for fans of: #MakeAkerfeldtGrowlAgain
Final verdict: 7/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Label: Code666 Records – Website | Facebook
Piah Mater is:
– Luiz Felipe Netto (vocals, bass)
– Igor Meira (guitars)
– Kalki Avatara (drums)
1 Comment
Playlist – FFO Opeth (or, A Dirge for November) – The Progressive Subway · November 1, 2022 at 14:00
[…] to produce the bar chords from ‘The Drapery Falls’. We on this blog have sometimes been somewhat critical of bands that lean too heavily on their Opeth influences as opposed to producing their own musical […]