Liste der Bands Progressive Death Meridian (USA-1) Paradigm

The whole progressive scene has become over saturated recently with bands seemingly content to do the same thing over and over again. There are exceptions of course with bands such as The Contortionist and In Mourning doing something unique and interesting with the progressive sound. However more often than not most bands I come across don't have enough of their own identity and just end up being faceless in the sea of over saturated Progressive Metal.

Meridian manages to avoid being one of these boring and faceless bands, their music is the Progressive Deathcore/Djent thing that's been popping up all over the place recently but it's done a lot better than most other bands. They also have one unique quality that sets them apart from other bands; they're use of keyboards. They're really spacey and work really well in the context of the music, it adds a unique flair and identity to an album that would be nowhere near as good without them.

Adding keyboards was definitely a good move by the band, they add so much to the music and the album wouldn't be half as good without them. They add a lot of spacey ambiance to the music and make it more atmospheric and interesting. They're suitably melodic and are really soft. Keyboards like this would normally be incongruous with Progressive Deathcore but like The Contortionist they managed to make them work. At times they give the music an almost Black Metal feeling to it, being atmospherically sinister and haunting, adding a lot to the atmosphere. The fourth track Translucent form has one of the most beautiful keyboard introductions I've ever heard which really adds to the quality of the music, the whole track is excellent in fact with some excellent keyboard work throughout.

Keyboards aside what's the rest of the music like? It's good, may not be as good as the keyboards but it's still good and enjoyable. Meridian play Progressive Deathcore that isn't exactly groundbreaking but it's still good nonetheless. There's some really good guitar work going on here and the music in general is suitably heavy. Throughout the whole album I'm definitely getting the feel that these guys were influenced by The Contortionist, definitely not a bad thing. The music is definitely fairly similar to the aforementioned band, it may not be as technically intricate but the atmosphere of Paradigm is definitely similar and the heavy parts are fairly similar as well. This isn't to say that Meridian are clone of The Contortionist, they're not, Meridian definitely have their own unique flair that sets them apart in a genre that is at a large risk of stagnation. The softer sections of Paradigm are excellent, adding a lot more interesting ideas to an album that is already full of interesting ideas.

Although Paradigm didn't exactly hit it off with me on first listen, I've grown to really like it. It's excellent and stands out in the Deathcore/Djent movements, no doubt due to the astounding use of keyboards. Paradigm is an excellent first release and will secure this bands place in the future of Progressive Metal.