Style: traditional prog rock/metal (clean vocals)
Review by: Sam
Country: Italy
Release date: February 26, 2021
Sometimes I need to listen to an album five times before I feel comfortable reviewing it. At other times however, two is enough to get an impression to start writing. Usually starting with writing so soon is a bad sign as to the album’s quality, and unfortunately Pentesilea Road is no exception to that rule. I took this album without sampling it because I saw that it featured a Ray Alder guest spot. I’m a huge sucker for his voice and generally love all things Fates Warning, so I couldn’t resist this.
What made this so easy for me to start writing about is that it’s not a bad album, it’s just quite boring. The moment you start the first track and hear the standard synth tones and the Portnoy rhythms you know what you’re in for. Half the album is instrumental. Admittedly it’s pretty chill and melodic, but it’s just not particularly lively or moving compared to what I’ve heard from other artists. You get those melodic leads that are nice and somewhat moving, but inspire they do not. This album feels like the prog metal equivalent of a solo shredder who’s mastered a few licks.
When the vocals appear it doesn’t get any better either. If anything, it gets worse. In what has almost become tradition, an otherwise decent band is married to a vocalist who’s just a level below the instrumentals. His voice lacks any power, range, or other emotive qualities. It also doesn’t help that the writing isn’t interesting either, it’s just a very standard, very bland performance. The difference with Ray Alder is stark, to say the least. His feature is by far the best thing about the album. When he comes on in “Noble Art” with his trademark delivery, it’s just immediately touching. He really brings the band to another level with his cameo.
The album is not all bland though. It’s a very warm, melodic album, and also a very gentle one. It’s mixed well too. There’s a good balance between the instruments and the tones are very pleasant on the ear. Most of the songs are perfectly decent in isolation as well, having a clear structure and direction. They have a very pleasant, dreamy atmosphere too. The riffs they give when they get heavier are perfectly fine heavy metal riffs too.
The real problem with the album though is with its length and lack of structure. Had this been 40 minutes, I might have given this a pass, but at 72 minutes it far, far outstays its welcome. There’s no real sense of a grander story or musical narrative either that would justify such a length. The tracks transition well into one another but the bigger picture fails to land. It simply lacks the scope and ambition required to pull off such a thing. The mood and atmosphere are largely the same throughout as well, really hammering home the feeling of bloat. It really feels like this is a band that just wanted to make some music they enjoy together in their free time, but had no real ambition to make any greater stage.
You know I wish I could give this a higher score than I’m going to, because as a listener it’s certainly enjoyable music, but as a reviewer you have to use more objective measurements, and the excessive length and general lack of ambition make it really hard for me to give this a pass. I don’t think anyone who likes traditional prog metal will dislike this album per se. It’s just that this album is largely inoffensive, and ultimately forgettable (save for the Ray Alder cameos).
Recommended tracks: Memory Comers, Noble Art, Shades of the Night
Recommended for fans of: Subsignal, 90s Dream Theater, Ray Alder
Final verdict: 4/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | RYM page
Label: Independent
Pentesilea Road is:
– Vincenzo Nocerino (vocals)
– Vito F. Mainolfi (guitars, bass)
– Alfonso Mocerino (drums)
– Ezio Di Ieso (keyboard)
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