Review: Parius – The Signal Heard Throughout Space

Style: Progressive Metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Haken, newer Opeth, Between the Buried and Me
Review by: Zach
Country: US – PA
Release date: 7 October, 2022

My friend sent me a Tumblr post today about how something’s quality is inversely proportionate to how seriously its fanbase takes it. The example they gave was people getting tattoos of MCU quotes and upholding it like a bastion of writing quality while the ever more competent Better Call Saul gets memes bordering on surreal anti-jokes. I think metal balances itself out quite nicely in that respect. Musicians like Kardashev’s Mark Garrett are able to pull at my heartstrings with Liminal Rite and at the same time seem like an all-around fun-loving guy on his YouTube channel. 

This goes doubly for a band like Summoning the Lich, who I’d never heard of before I saw them open for Allegaeon back in April. All clearly competent musicians playing incredible music and dancing around the whole time like no one was watching while the vocalist hammed up some fantasy narration in between songs. The courage to not take yourself seriously is what I admire most in a band while not sacrificing the quality of your music. I don’t think a band sums that up more than Parius does.

Take one listen—no, just look at the cover of The Eldritch Realm, their previous album. It’s straight out of a 80s horror VHS tape, complete with Rod Sterling-esque narration and fantastic musicianship to back it all up. I must say, the album holds a special place in my heart for some reason. I can’t gather why, as it’s not nearly up to the level of something like Portal of I or Ghost Reveries, yet I’ve listened to Parius more. Maybe it has something to do with the sheer “fun” factor, or the nearly EP length runtime. Either way, they had a lot to live up to a whole four years later.

To be quite honest, I was worried when first hearing ‘The Signal’ as a single. It was a clear stylistic change from their previous effort, and I didn’t love it upon first listen, it’s still growing on me. But all worries melted away when ‘Spacelog.0245’ started. I cracked a smile with the return of the narration, ending off with the name of the album spoken in such a grandiose way. The incredible musicianship returned, the bass could be heard easily; this was definitely the Parius I remember. The addition of keyboards here set the spacey mood, just as the woodwinds and piano did at the beginning of The Eldritch Realm.

But this is clearly a different Parius. Less death metal, much less. More of a mix between newer Opeth, Haken, and a little bit of Between the Buried and Me. ‘Suspended Animation’ sees a more serious, lamenting side of the band with not a bit of guitar and only a lonely piano while vocalist Louis Thierry croons about being in cryosleep. Just as I say I don’t want Parius to be serious, they pull something like this that proves to me they can still be emotionally moving and beautiful when they want. Right out of the gate, ‘Spaceflight Dementia’ gives me that perfect union of the new and old Parius sound. If this would’ve been the first single, I would’ve had no worries or qualms about the album. The return of the screams right into that theatrical chorus brought an ear-to-ear smile to my face like seeing an old friend for the first time in forever. But that’s only the beginning.

The album goes on such a steep upward climb from here it’s almost mind boggling. Despite the rocky start, all was forgiven with how utterly fantastic ‘The Acid Lakes of Ganymede’ and ‘The Human Molecule’ are, the latter being a frontrunner for Song of the Year with a chorus that got stuck in my head for days. The former not wasting a single second of its 10-minute runtime and a section at the 6:30 mark makes me wish I could put it on our Best Prog Moments playlist.

Because this album is so incredibly well paced, Parius knows we need a breather of a track to gear up for that massive 13 minute closer. ‘Contact!’, ‘Dimension Y’, and ‘The Outer Limit’ are catchy without being filler, especially the first one. They all serve their place to keep the album from feeling tiring or bloated. But the buildup to ‘Arecibo’ is so insanely good that it makes an already fantastic closer even better. As much as I loved the final track on Eldritch, I always felt like one more massive track would’ve put that album into my top ten. I see they got the message here.

The Signal Heard Throughout Space isn’t the evolution of Parius I thought would happen, but I think they’re better off for it. I didn’t want a rehash of Eldritch in space, but I also didn’t want them to abandon what made that album so special to me. While they didn’t want that fun factor to become gimmicky, they’ve shown how varied they are as a band when they balance making fun of themselves and taking themselves seriously. Everything is on point here, and even with double the length of their previous effort, I still find myself revisiting this daily.

Recommended tracks: Spaceflight Dementia, The Acid Lakes of Ganymede, The Human Molecule
You may also like: Proliferation, Charlie Griffiths, Luna’s Call
Final verdict: 8.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page

Label: Willowtip – Bandcamp | Website | Facebook

Parius is:
– Dan Silver (drums)
– Sean Gallagher (keyboards)
– Ryan Rauch (guitars)
– Louis Thierry (vocals)
– Kenny Rentz (drums)