Style: Progressive metal, melodic death metal, djent (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Opeth, Orphaned Land, Ne Obliviscaris
Country: Israel
Release date: 20 September 2024
One of the things I’m always most excited to talk about on this blog is Israel’s vibrant underground prog metal scene, from international flag bearers Orphaned Land to Subway favorite Subterranean Masquerade all the way to the brilliant trad prog of one-off-high-school-project-never-to-be-seen-again Venus in Fear. Another excellent project from there is prog death-ers Obsidian Tide whose bass player Schacher Bieber is a friend of the blog (their record from last year was also Quite Good™). So, safe to say, I was pretty happy to see a promo of their guitarist and vocalist Oz Avneya’s solo album in our inbox, let alone when I saw that Dan Presland (no longer ex–Ne Obliviscaris, Black Lava) was responsible for the drums. Sadly for me, Bieber isn’t on bass, but Oz conjured another Schachar (Sasson) to make up for it. Can the Israeli prog scene deliver the goods once again?
Genre-wise, The Road to I is not much different from Obsidian Tide, playing a lighter brand of progressive death metal with oriental folky touches my Western ear cannot discern the specific heritage of but which sound great. The main difference lies in the get-in-get-out style of composing: only two songs even pass the five minute mark, and one of them is a cooldown track at the end. Each song has its own unique identity, from the djentiness of “Proxima B” to the Dream Theater-isms of “Conjurers of Conformity” and “Momentary Blink”, to the symphonic folk that permeates breather track “Emotionally Attached”, ensuring plenty of variety. The performances are obviously at a high level too, so the foundation for a rock-solid record is there.
But at the same time, I find The Road to I to be undercooked. Whereas Obsidian Tide could sometimes stretch an idea beyond its merit (off topic but “The Invasion of Paradise” would have been much better if it shaved off two minutes), Avneya does the opposite and fails to let its ideas breathe and develop to their maximum potential, which is especially frustrating when the playing is as good as it is. “Conjurers of Conformity” has incredibly flavorful guitarwork but rushes to the finish line almost immediately, “Momentary Blink” has absolutely killer ideas with the Dream Theater-isms in the intro and the epic death metal vibes when the vocals come in (among others) but doesn’t piece them together well and could have easily been twice its length to let the sections flow more naturally, and “Ethics We Chose to Omit” has grandiose, almost symphonic death metal bits in its climax which would have been fantastic if it didn’t hurriedly arise out of an otherwise groovy djent song. Had Avneya taken more time to develop these songs, they could have all rivaled Obsidian Tide’s best cuts, but alas.
And those songs contained the best ideas. Oz’s talent as a writer ensures nothing he writes is ever truly bad, but there are some duds. “Seeds of Immortality” feels like a radio length Obsidian Tide song with extra djent in the verses (and a great guitar solo!). It’s a good song, but I could also put on “Pillars of Creation” or “Clandestine Calamities” and get much more out of those. His ventures into djent can be pretty djeneric, too—the “Proxima B”-side TesseracT riffs and the uninspired chugging in the middle of “Conjurers of Conformity” getting especially on my nerves. Speaking of “Proxima B”, I’m not a fan of how the guest singers are incorporated either: Yohai Davidoff’s coarse, epic vocals in the chorus sound like they belong in a late 00s heavy/power metal group while the instrumentation is jarringly hypnotic and moody, and Inbal Bril’s soprano vocals soar in the bridge as Oz djents away at the tonal cohesion. I can kinda see what he was going for but the execution is lacking.
Another weird consequence of the short songs lies in Road to I’s overall structuring. Avneya does well in balancing harsh and soft textures, placing three breather tracks at the beginning, middle, and end… which would have been fine had they not taken up over a third of the album’s runtime. Yet even then, I find myself wishing that the symphonic angle of “Emotionally Attached” was fleshed out further. Again, it’s a good song, but it could have been more. Furthermore, a final criticism I want to level at the record is that Dan Presland is given awfully little room to show off his chops. Only in the most epic moments does he let loose a little, but given how short the songs are, those moments are few and far in between. It seems like a waste to hire such a renowned drummer and give him that little creative wiggle room.
Yet, despite the heavily critical tone of my review, I think Road to I is a good album at the end of the day. It has generally great guitarwork, varied songwriting, and generally just does prog metal well. My frustrations primarily stem from how it all could have been so much more. I’m curious to see if some of these ideas get transferred over to the next Obsidian Tide album (to be expected mid 2026, I’ve been told), but in the meantime, this will do.
Recommended tracks: Conjurers of Conformity, Momentary Blink
You may also like: Obsidian Tide, The Anchoret, Dessiderium, Winterhorde, Subterranean Masquerade
Final verdict: 6/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Label: Independent
Avneya is:
– Oz Avneya (clean vocals, guitars)
– Shachar Sasson (bass)
– Dan Presland (drums)
– Zed Destructive (harsh vocals)
With guests:
– Inbal Bril (soprano vocals – tracks 3, 6)
– Yohai Davidoff (guest vocals – track 3)
– Erez Nadler (additional percussion – track 1)
– Guy Eylon (cello tracks – 4, 7)
– Lily Itzhaki (violin tracks – 4, 7)
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