Style: Progressive Metalcore, Groove Metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Trivium, Intronaut, Periphery, TOOL
Review by: Cooper
Country: Germany
Release date: 27 October, 2023
Of the various paths that lead to the land of progressive metal, the one through metalcore is one of the most often traveled. Weatherworn signposts of pilgrims long since past mark the long and familiar way, beginning with bands like Killswitch Engage and Bullet For My Valentine, designated halfway by bands like Trivium and Avenged Sevenfold, and ending squarely in the realm of Between the Buried and Me and ERRA. And while for some these “gateway” bands are merely reminders of their teenage years (I say at the lofty age of nineteen), there is something to be said for the power of nostalgia. So when I heard of the promises made by Nascent Echoes’s newest release Zeitgeist to deliver progressive metal substance in the tradition of 2000’s era metalcore, I was excited. Unfortunately, though, instead of combining these elements to great effect, Zeitgeist squanders its potential with choppy song structures and an air of shoddiness that reminds not of why I previously loved the genre but of why I ended up moving away from it.
Formed in late 2021 as a collaboration between multi-instrumentalist Robert Graefe and lyricist Jepotastic, Nascent Echoes deals in a style of metalcore undoubtedly familiar to anyone with an iota of genre savviness. There are classic “Unholy Confessions” style single string skipping riffs galore accompanied by the occasional mid-tempo blast beat and contrapuntal guitar duet; all fairly standard stuff, but Nascent Echoes adds to this familiar recipe elements of groove and progressive metal which under normal circumstances would elevate this genre but, for reasons we shall discuss leave the final mixture feeling like a watered down version of everything it was trying to be, as though Graefe wanted to simply make a metalcore record but felt obligated to supplement it with “progressive” elements.
The most heinous example of this is undoubtedly the album’s use of spoken word, supplied by Jepotastic, which in the first song, while seemingly arbitrary, wasn’t offensive enough to warrant any major criticism. After all, many a band have put some questionable spoken word elements into their album’s first song in the pursuit of “setting the scene,” but the later uses of it during midway point “The Vortex” and closer “The Simulacrum” are more than worthy of criticism. The substance of the spoken word, while not exactly ground-breaking, is not the issue here. It is the manner in which it is applied to which I take offense. In fact, if I wanted to create a parody of progressive metal, taking every cliche and tired trope of the genre and condensing it into one musical moment, I wouldn’t be able to create something as simultaneously pedantic yet blind to its own lackluster as the middle third of “The Vortex.” And then to prove that spoken word can in fact be applied even more poorly, “The Simulacrum” sees the entire album’s emotional climax drowned out by even more blown-out, melodramatic croning. It’s as though the moments of spoken word were chosen specifically to cover up the most musically interesting things you’ve heard the past several songs. Perhaps I am not the target audience for these moments; after all, only a third of the track list contains any spoken word elements, meaning there is much more for me to potentially enjoy, but much will need to be done to make up for these egregious moments.
That, however, does not happen; the six remaining songs range from simply good to downright laborious, and the majority tip the scale well towards the latter. Never before has the term “riff salad” been more applicable; tempo changes occur seemingly at random, breakneck transitions rending any momentum the songs had going for them to pulp. The worst part is that when a riff locks in that may actually be worth a damn, it’s usually the shortest lasting, blown apart in the wake of some incomprehensible tempo change masked by post-production studio magic. I could nitpick every element of this album till the cows came home, but my point already stands. Very little of this album seems to have been made with enough care to weed out the bad ideas from the good, and in the end it’s the bad ideas that hold more sway. Which is truly a shame because there are actually a few solid ideas interspersed throughout this thing. “Parasomnia” delivers the melodic guitar goodness that I was hoping for from music labelled as progressive metalcore, and “Pitch Black” had a strong sense of attitude that was sorely lacking from other tracks like “Fragments Of,” perhaps the worst track on this thing despite featuring zero spoken word; it simply does nothing for about six minutes, and when it finally musters up the courage to climax, it ends before it even can (there’s a euphemism in there somewhere).
If after all that you still want to check out Zeitgeist, begin with “Parasomnia.” It’s undoubtedly the best song with its melodic guitar duets, but be warned beyond that and perhaps the groovy “Pitch Black,” this album is uncharted territory, maybe for those wanting to cringe at their middle school metalcore era.
Recommended tracks: Parasomnia, Pitch Black
You may also like: Neck of the Woods, Chaosbay, Below A Silent Sky,
Final verdict: 4/10
Related links: Bandcamp
Label: Independent
Nascent Echoes is:
– Robert Graefe (all instruments, vocals)
– Jepotastic (spoken word, lyrics)
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