Persefone rewards our expectation.
Since 2001 in Andorra, the band composed of Toni Mestre Coy « Fragment of Silence » (bass), Carlos Lozano Quintanilla « Rüdiger » (guitar), Miguel Espinosa « Iawr » (keyboards), Marc Martins Pia (vocals), Sergi Verdeguer (drums) and Filipe Baldaia (guitar) develops its universe between Melodic and Progressive Death Metal. Metanoia, their sixth album, is released at Napalm Records in 2022.
Notice that the band also gathers Steffen Kummerer (Obscura, Thulcandra, Death DTA) and Angel Vivaldi (Angel Vivaldi, I Legion) on guitars, as well as Einar Solberg (Leprous) and Merethe Soltvedt on vocals.
We begin with Metanoia, the eponymous track, on which clean vocals accompany majestic and quite mystical sonorities they develop until Katabasis strikes with rage and fastness. Heavy leads accompanied by those orchestrations offer a perfect basis to the singer’s howlings, creating a contrast between beauty and violence while staying into complexity which will be feeded by explosive leads. Architecture of the I comes next with this killer groove and some airy tones, which will be quickly joined by the singer’s visceral screams, then the band focuses on epic leads. The constant fastness allows them to do as strong as precise strikes with this soaring break completed by clean vocals, then Leap of Faith comes next with its hypnotic tones. The sound is mysterious, but it allows to slowly build a mind image of the band’s dark universe full of orchestrations before instruments reconnect with a majestic saturation, followed by Aware of Being Watched. Whether the beginning of the song, accompanied by female vocals, offer an intense progression, the rest of the track floods us with this melting between quietness as well as very complex and hooking Prog elements, which are sometimes accompanied by vocals to increase their effectiveness. The band stays into calm tones with Merkabah and its heady tones, which will burst into fire to let raw howlings join the explosive and weighing melting. The sound still lets some softer parts create a contrast with the mad fury, which also uses impressive orchestrations before the long Consciousness Pt3 comes to complete the work began with the album Spiritual Migration. We have some similar tones to the two firsts parts on this instrumental song, whether it is in this heady softness, into majestic elements or into raw rage, wonderfully completed by vocals as well as the musicians’ incredible mastery. The album ends with the three parts of the song Anabasis, which takes time to unveil soft but worrying sonorities on the first track, then rage explodes on the second one, offering a true tornado of as strong and devastating as melodious and thoughtful rage. Sharp riffs live with complexity and heaviness, but also with this mesmerizing break which slowly makes strength spawn again with an intense vocal trio, right before the third part offers a moment of quietness to swallow the compositions, and get lost into the void.
Extremely complex but always thoughtful, Persefone’s music was anticipated by Melodic and Progressive Death Metal lovers. Each of them will enjoy Metanoia a lot, because it’s an album which knows to unveil raw influences, softness, rage and above all an intense and deep coherence.
95/100