Mayadome: Paranormal Activity

It's so refreshing when a band takes a sound that is beginning to grow a bit stale in places, and does something new with it that revitalizes things. Mayadome has done just that on Paranormal Activity, an album of great progressive metal with some new inventiveness.

One of the most wonderful elements of this album are the distinctive and fluid vocals of Bjorn Holmquist, a very talented fellow who mixes perfect pitch with a sort of humility that makes his sound very accessible. He has a throaty, thick resonance that is a far cry from typical metal falsetto. It goes perfectly with the extremely well-written songs on this album.

The songs feature very solid musicianship, and some really groundbreaking stuff, particularly in the longer instrumental movements. I'm just guessing, but I would swear that I hear some Gentle Giant influence in the title track. The vocal melodies are arresting and well integrated with the music; there's a particularly brilliant passage in the song "New Ways of Existance."

With any luck, there will be many more Mayadome albums to follow this one; it's clear from this debut that their career will be essential listening, and they're likely to set and break trends with future releases.

Added: January 1st 2004
Reviewer: SoT Archives
Score:
Hits: 3241
Language: english

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