Style: traditional progressive metal, djent (clean vocals)
Review by: Sam
Country: United Kingdom
Release date: 17 September, 2021
Ever wondered what 90s prog metal would sound like if it went djent? I know I didn’t, but I guess here we have it. I initially glossed over this record on our spreadsheet, but when I saw that guitarist Jasun Tipton – the man behind Zero Hour – was also the driving force behind this project, I made it a priority. After all, The Tower of Avarice is a cult classic, and the last Zero Hour album was in 2008, so I was curious to see whether his songwriting skills still held up in this day and age.
Now combining a classic prog metal sound with djent isn’t extremely rare – bands like Voyager, Ihlo, and recently Haken as well have had success with it – but it’s apparent that they are not from that era. Despite sounding very modern production-wise, When the Skies Are Grey has a distinctly old school feel. The vocals are soaring and melodic, and the guitar leads have a strong heavy metal flavor. Not to mention the introspective nature of the lyrics and how they are delivered is strongly reminiscent of classic acts like Fates Warning, Dream Theater, and of course Zero Hour themselves. These elements – along with a dreamy atmosphere – are also the best aspects of the album in my opinion, and logically the band is at its best when it leans into them, but more on that later.
Unfortunately, this is where the problems start. There is a strong “how do you do, fellow kids?” grandpa energy in this record. Now not every band centers their songwriting around them, but almost any good prog metal album will have a foundation of strong, memorable riffs. And for how much Zero Hour succeeded at those, A Dying Planet fails miserably. It’s not that I’m a djent fan, not at all, but I know a good djent riff when I hear it, and these ain’t it chief. These are some of the blandest, non-descriptive djent riffs I’ve ever heard. It’s as if they took the absolute most basic djent riff and decided it was good enough to build the entire album around. What??? I expect better from such experienced and acclaimed songwriters. Where are the freaky odd-time riffs? Where are the neck breakers, the face-melters? All we get is the equivalent of the plainest of white bread with barely even a whiff of butter that already passed the expiry date. It’s hard to enjoy the other aspects of the album when the majority of it builds on such mediocre riffs and bog-standard drumming. I’d rather they use good but dated-sounding riffs than this half-hearted crap. Now we’re just grooving along at the same BPM for 53 minutes. And I thought TesseracT was repetitive.
Anyway, I also promised I’d go further into the good aspects of this album. First obvious thing to talk about is the production. They make good use of left-right dynamics and layering to create a very spacious, pristine sound, and the warm guitar and bass tones give it a nice ethereal quality. You can perfectly pick out any little detail, which is always nice. The guitar playing is not particularly impressive as it’s mostly basic padding, but it sounds nice. Speaking of nice, the vocals are also nice, most of the time. Paul Villareal (also of Sun Caged) has a gentle, warm voice and a solid sense of melody. I’m not sure if he does all the vocals, but they do these layered vocal sections which always stand out. Some moments feel a bit forced and cringey (such as the ‘woah’s in “Honoring Your Name”), but overall he’s a solid dude. Another good, I would even argue great, aspect of this record is the lead playing. Jasun Tipton really knows how to write emotive lead melodies, and the record is definitely at its best when he lets loose in that aspect, and even better when it’s combined with the layered vocals. Most of the time he’s stuck with padding and boring riffs though.
I hate this record, I love this record. The atmosphere is genuinely good, and the melodies are solid as well, but then I hear those riffs and I do an eye-roll. What always annoys me about these subpar albums by acclaimed songwriters is that you can still hear that they are acclaimed songwriters. The songs are all well-composed, and they each of them does evoke a genuine emotional response in places, but I can’t help but get annoyed when I know Jasun can do much better than this. So dear Jason Tipton, if you are reading this, please either revive Zero Hour, or start writing better djent riffs, because this in-between does not make me happy.
Recommended tracks: Hope for Tomorrow, Embrace
Recommended for fans of: TesseracT, Zero Hour, Fates Warning, Caligula’s Horse
You may also like: Ihlo, Karma Rassa, Effuse, Kingcrow, Rust Belt Gothic, Poverty’s No Crime
Final verdict: 5/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | RYM page
Label: Lifeforce Records – Bandcamp | Website | Facebook
A Dying Planet is:
– Paul Adrian Villarreal (vocals)
– Jasun Tipton (guitars)
– Brian Hart (bass)
– Marco Bicca (drums)
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