Review: Pangaea – VESPR

Style: progressive metal, metalcore, technical death metal (mixed vocals)
Review by: Tyler
Recommended for fans of: Between the Buried and Me, The Contortionist
Country: Wisconsin, United States
Release date: 20 September, 2019

[EDITOR’S NOTE: This review was originally published in the September 2019 issue of The Progressive Subway.]

I have to start this review with a disclaimer: I am going into this album with a personal bias. I hate to do it, but it can’t be ignored. I have known about Pangaea for a very long time. My band has played with them, we are from the same area in Wisconsin. Heck, their bassist, Spencer, mixed and mastered our album (phenomenally, by the way) [The World Is Quiet Here – Prologue Ed.]. They are friends. Musicians I look up to. I am personally invested in Pangaea. And you should all be too. What they are doing is otherworldly. All of these guys are trained, professional musicians who managed to take a sterile genre that, in all honesty, was becoming oversaturated with “How heavy and angry can we make this?” and turn it into something forward thinking, wonderfully written, and often beautiful.  

Every aspect of the songwriting and composition is eye catching and memorable. Blending styles from all across heavy music. Michael Dionne’s vocals are versatile from the very beginning of Survivor’s Guilt, opening with a style that is reminiscent of a more Hardcore setting, and being able to go to masterful lows and screams. Guitars handled by Trae and Evan are inspired, complimenting each other non stop. Whether it be in the form of a dueled guitar lead ala mid 2000’s Metalcore, or small classical guitar interludes, because yes of course they are exemplary in that as well. Spencer’s bass playing on A Gateway to Nothing makes me want to quit altogether. And Michael DeMarco’s drumming on the entire album is perfection.

There are so many layers and things at play on VESPR, that it could be seen as almost too busy. There are a lot of complex things happening all at once, to where I often felt like I had sensory overload in the best possible way. Some good examples are in Survivors Guilt and Black Tower. Those songs have so much to express in them, they don’t linger on ideas for too long, it feels like you are being forced to have your head whipped back and forth, but everywhere you look is the next killer riff or vocal/guitar hook that’s going to be stuck in your head all day long. It’s a curse that sits well with me, but for some, it could come off as hyperactive.

This review is biased. Sorry. I promise though, this would have blown me away just as much if it was the first time stumbling across Pangaea. They borrow a lot from their contemporaries, but blend it in all in ways that I’ve never heard before. Every element works together. Everything sounds fantastic. This is one of those albums that you remember where you were the first time you heard it. And I’m so proud that it was made by people that I’ve respected for so long. Hats off, fellas. Don’t forget about us little guys on your way to the top.

Recommended tracks: Survivor’s Guilt, Black Tower, The VESPR Sessions
You may also like: The World Is Quiet Here, The Alpha Incident, Sunless Dawn
Final verdict: 10/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | RYM page

Label: Independent

Pangaea is:
– Michael Dionne (vocals)
– Trae Titus (guitar), Evan Webster (guitar)
– Spencer Fox (bass)
– Steve Meyer (drums)