Style: progressive metal, post-metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Astronoid, Devin Townsend, Kardashev, Wintersun
Country: United Kingdom
Release date: 13 December 2024
When I was younger, I snorted up any ‘epic’ metal as if I were an 80s rockstar and it was cocaine. Huge, sweeping guitar solos, a million layers of synth orchestras, and booming vocals are indulgent, as delectable and rich as a devil’s food cake. Artists who master these emotional and bombastic peaks are few and far between—Wintersun, Kardashev, Devin Townsend, and Neurotech are some easy examples—but when the style is done well, it almost always becomes an instant Andy classic. From Bristol, Frank Harper’s one man act Caelestra is also a triumphant and massive undertaking, promising a mix of post-black metal, retro synths, and prog. Can he overpower my senses with pure epic power?
Bastion is an interesting mix of Astronoid’s dreaminess and the more crushing moments of Devin Townsend’s discography, with a dash of An Abstract Illusion in the compositional style. In short, Caelestra is nothing if not epic. The most noteworthy component of his style is the penchant for tremendous, in-your-face walls of sound. Blast beats atop uber-melodic major-key sections—not unlike Neurotech’s wonderful Symphonies records—make up the bulk of each track, the Townsendian fry screams the cherry on top for creating a beautiful, but heavy, soundscape. Even the atmospheric breaks in between the massive climaxes sound eerily similar to Devy’s later ambient stuff (listen to “Soteria” and compare to the weird bits of “Borderlands” or “Singularity” off of Empath). I certainly wouldn’t say Caelestra is a clone, but he wears his influences on his sleeve.
As for the Astronoid comparison, the autotune-y effect on the high-pitched clean vocals as well as the dreamy synths underlying the blast-beat heavy sections sound like they could be straight from Air, Astronoid’s debut. I also hear lots of similarities in keyboard choices to An Abstract Illusion like at 2:27 in “Lightbringer”; moreover, the way each track flows from each section to the next in a stream-of-consciousness (but well-composed) way is similar to the Swedish underground prog titans, as well. Unlike AAI, though, when Calestra has a great idea, he doesn’t always stick with it, much to my chagrin. The section around 6:00 in “Finisterre” is criminally short with its epic blackened swell and crashing drums. Other components of Bastion’s sound, like the theremin in closer “Eos” or the choral effects in “The Hollow Altar,” are underutilized.
Paradoxically, despite switching between ideas too frequently, I also find Bastion to be frustratingly one-note—probably because both the pitched fry screams and autotune-y falsettos stay extremely monotonic. The production also contributes to this as lots of detail is lost underneath the unbalanced mix, a common problem for other maximalist bands like the granddaddy of them all, Wintersun. There’s so much going on at most moments that more chaotic sections of Bastion get completely buried in the master, leaving only the repetition of drums and same-note vocals.
At the end of the day, Bastion is epic and its climaxes are awesome to behold, but the overall package falls a little flat. Caelestra is undoubtedly skilled, far beyond competent at every instrument he lays his hands on, but paradoxical missteps in songwriting alongside washed out details make for a homogenous experience. Sometimes in this line of duty an album you think should click for you just doesn’t, and it’s always frustrating—it’s a lot more fun to sing praise for an album than to heap on criticism (well, sometimes). I’ll be keeping my eye on Caelestra, as he clearly has potential to make an album worthy of praise-heaping in his future.
Recommended tracks: Finisterre, The Hollow Altar
You may also like: OU, Múr, Neurotech, An Abstract Illusion, Atavistia
Final verdict: 6/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Label: independent
Caelestra is:
– Frank Harper (everything)
