Liste der Bands Progressive Metal Dorthal Arid Landscape

I feel as though I’m getting pretty jaded by the whole Djent movement. With bands seemingly content to tread the same water as their idols and to not experiment and expand their sound. It becomes quite frustrating and tiring to hear the same thing over and over again. Dorthal treads the same water as Ever Forthright by mixing elements of Jazz Fusion elements into the fray. The music on Arid Landscape is generally technically good but these ideas have been done to death that I find myself growing weary of this style.

For what Arid Landscape aims to do it no doubt succeeds, Dorthal were clearly aiming for a spacey and at times atmospheric Djent sound and by all means Arid Landscape has succeeded in doing this. Everything here is competent enough for Djent and that’s really the main problem, it’s simply competent enough. For what it was aiming to do I’ll give it credit for no doubt succeeding but the problem with Arid Landscape is that in a sea of Djent bands doing the same thing it really doesn’t shine through. There’s nothing to separate it from other Djent bands and there’s no reason to listen to this.

Mixing Jazz Fusion into Djent isn’t a new idea, with Ever Forthright doing something similar. Although I will admit it does make Arid Landscape somewhat interesting, the Jazz Fusion just isn’t used as well as it could have been. I would have liked to have seen more emphasis placed on them rather than the odd saxophone section.

Arid Landscape feels a bit too safe for me, it doesn’t feel like the musician behind Dorthal is pushing himself enough and there’s nothing to separate it from other Djent albums. Even if the music might be technically good and competent enough for the genre there’s just nothing that excites me here. Everything has been done to death before and there’s nothing new or exciting about this album that spikes my interest. If generic Djent is your thing then you’ll love Arid Landscape, but for those of us who like a bit more ingenuity and innovation in their music then we can pass this one up.