lista zespołów Progressive Metal Scale The Summit The Migration

Scale The Summit is a band I've heard briefly mentioned before but have never gotten round to actually checking them out. I decided to listen to The Migration on a whim, honestly I wasn't expecting much, just another faceless progressive act in a sea of faceless acts. Their was however enough to keep me intrigued, the cover art is pretty cool, showcasing a quite surreal theme that goes hand in hand with the album title. I heard this was entirely instrumental which usually spikes my interest, I'm a huge sucker for instrumental music as generally I find the musical display to be highly emotional and ethereal. Usually I find myself captivated by instrumental music and its ethereal delivery. Despite this I went away with serious doubts in my head regarding the quality of music I now possessed. So I pressed play, anxiously waiting with baited breath, doubts circulating my head like a Catherine Wheel.

I am so, so sorry for those doubts. The Migration not only manages to exceed my expectations but present one of the best albums I've heard this year as well. I sure as hell was not expecting the instrumental insanity I got as soon as I hit play. The Migration is an incredible release, perfectly blending almost virtuoso level technicality with an ethereal sense of melody to create a very beautiful and stunning album that I was not expecting.

The quality of the instrumentation is insane. Each instrument is played to the best of the musicians ability, showcasing a phenomenal level of technicality and musical knowledge that manifests itself in creating an utterly astounding album. Technicality is often a fairly difficult item to master, with many bands seemingly focusing too much on all out technicality whilst forgetting any semblance of consistent song writing within the fray. It's a hit and mix musical element and more often than not garners mix results. Of course there will be some bands who tarnish the reputation of progressive and technical musical forms, but isn't that the case with any form of music? There will always be the bad eggs no matter the genre that leech out of their vile crevices to try and poison the dignity of a well established musical form. Scale The Summit thankfully avoid any pitfalls that plague progressive acts and result in creating a very powerful album that highlights a strong sense of song writing that is sorely missing from within the genre.

Immediately from the get go we're presented with an impressive degree of technicality mixed in with a high sense of melody and solid and concise song structures. As soon as the first song starts I was instantly hooked, I wasn't expecting this amount of technical prowess and nor was I expecting it to be as well written and consistent as this. Scale The Summit are very advanced technicality, the songs have numerous transitions from instrumental insanity to quiet and gentler sections. The transitions run smoothly, never feeling out of place and always feeling like a natural progression. There's a very strong bass presence throughout The Migration, creating powerful and technical undercurrents to the already impressive musicianship. The bass never follows the lead of the guitar and always plays its own melodies, adding even more technicality on top of an already impressive package. The bass melodies never feel incongruous with the guitar melodies and perfectly harmonize with them, creating a beautiful symbiosis that works insanely well.

The core of The Migration is very simple, bass and guitar melodies harmonizing together to create surreal and ethereal melodies whilst well played drums keep the rhythm going. It's a simple yet incredibly effective layout, allowing Scale The Summit to create a powerful and engaging listen. At times certain elements join the fray that are highly reminiscent of post rock. Atlas Novus contains beautiful lead passages that have a definite post rock vibe, chiming beautifully over the progressive baseplate adding a very strong sense of surreal atmosphere.

The Olive Tree opens up with a very engaging and surreal introduction that soon bursts into a beautiful fusion of progressive and technical musicianship with post rock inspired melodies and atmosphere. It's a wonderful fusion of styles and works fantastically to create an emotionally engaging and infectiously catching listen that is incredibly easy to get lost within. The way in which Scale The Summit present an authentic and convincing atmosphere is far beyond most bands of today. I've never heard a progressive band so beautifully able to create such a strong and enthralling atmosphere as Scale The Summit, even Opeth don't stand on the same level as them. I've never heard any album so beautifully expressing a perfect atmosphere as this one, the atmosphere is utterly engrossing and empyreal, creating the perfect trip to get lost within yourself for a time.

The Migration is a beautifully diverse album, ranging from the post rock inspired melodies of Atlas Novus and The Olive Tree to the more metallic crash of Narrow Salient to the hyperactive melodic stylings of Oracle. There's no shortage of stand out moments on The Migration. It is a consistently brilliant album, one that highlights a very strong musical knowledge on the behalf of this band.

The Migration is truly a one of a kind album, I haven't heard many bands playing a form of progressive metal as ethereal and melodic as this with the exception of perhaps Irepress. The Migration is an utterly astounding album and I highly urge all fans of progressive music or just music in general to get this album as soon as possible, you will not be disappointed. Essential.