Lykathea Aflame - Elveneferis

This album was something of a revelation, I heard many good things about this Czech technical/progressive death metal outfit; however, certain realms of the internet can be a tad overzealous when it comes to technical and avant-garde metal so i was more than a little sceptical. I was not without my reasons, terms like progressive and avant-garde are hideously abused, both terms would indicate the creation of "new" or cutting edge music. The most common approaches to this end are the use of atypical theory in composition or to combine existing genres of music together. The first option can produce very interesting but often less easily/traditionally digestable music (Gorguts Obscura being a good example), while the second can produce new and interesting sounds by merging qualities of familar genres.

While i dont doubt the intent of many bands toying with such ideas the results are often dissapointing at best,  throwing together diametrically opposed musical ideas or dropping disparate genres into compositions without genuine care doesnt make clever or interesting music, it makes a mess! (see the vast majority of artists who list Mike Patton or The Dillinger Escape Plan as an influence.)

While Lykathea Aflame use both approaches at no point does Elvenefris feel like an ill-concieved excercise in musical smuggery and/or knowing zanniness. Despite the abundance of contrasting ideas. This album is an absolute joy, exotic scales segue into brutal technical death metal through soaring melodies and triumphant power metal-esque bombast, as well as some genuinely oddball moments. The tastefull use of acoustic instrumentation and keyboards adds a further level of depth and colour to the songs. Why Lykathea Aflame succeed where others fail is that for all their skill, decadence and transgression their focus remains on cogent songwriting. The musicianship is excellent (the drumming in paticularly is very impressive) but it never overrides the dynamics of the song, when to shred and when to simplify.

In all honesty every aspect of this album shows a huge amount of imagination, intelligence and skill and at 72 minutes, that this album bears repeated listens is testament to it's quality. Sadly Lykathea Aflame only produced this one album which was released by Obscene Productions back in 2000, the re-issue from 2011 includes additional versions of a couple of these songs as well as original and remastered mixes across two discs. So while this is the original press the re-issue is the superior release, but seriously if you haven't heard this album do so however you can!