The incredible Persefone are back with the first part of a series of EPs. Following on from their incredible 2022 release (reviewed here) is going to be a tough task, so I’m excited to hear if the prog metal band can live up to my lofty expectations!
A brief (for Persefone) intro track leads into the utterly epic, fantastic ‘One Word’. The two minutes of ‘Sounds and Vessels’ builds up perfectly into the HUGE, heavy, proggy riff, the guitarist, bassist and drummer all working their asses off right from the get go. The blast beats and screams come in for the verse, only adding to the agression and heaviness. However, it still has an epic feel throughout, especially due to the synths coming in the back. It also feels very Gojira by the time the chorus comes in, the cleaner, multi-tracked vocals and HUGE sound from the instrumentation. It’s very Fortitude era Gojira in all the best ways, especially with the sheer talent from the band members! The bridge riffing is on another level, truly blowing my mind a little bit, I think. Especially when the drums go half time. Fuck I LOVE this band! It’s an incredible track and one that easily makes our playlist!
‘The Equable’ opens on another huge, epic riff. The duelling vocals through the verses were also sick, one screamed and the other a powerful clean. It’s treated like a duet, which is really cool. And it has an absolutely massive, arena-filling chorus which only adds to the epicness of the track. It feels like a slightly more radio-friendly prog-death track, which is insane to be typing. There’s also an awesome guitar solo tucked away in the middle, tying the song together perfectly. It’s another excellent track, and the second to make the playlist!
The title track is up next, and being the longest song on the EP, it’s definitely got a heavy prog leaning. A very brief acoustic opening gives way to a HUGE scream and an epic black metal-esque riff. The riff around the 1:30 minute mark is insane, the harmonics sounding phenomenal and it all having more of a metalcore feel. It dropping bak to the clean guitars and vocals in the middle was an awesome touch too. The multi-layered vocals sounded incredible, as did the clean lead guitaring. It added a whole new dynamic to the track and it build back up to the heaviness perfectly. It’s a truly epic track and another great one!
The EP closer has more of an interlude feel to it, honestly. It’s beautiful and ethereal and incredibly well written, it being mainly clean vocals and electronic sounds. It feels like Tool in all the best ways. It’s an odd choice to close out the EP with, though. It feels like it’s constantly building up to something that never quite arrives. However, with this being just the first part, I completely trust that Persephone have big plans for the project, and that when part II comes out, it will make this track make much more sense and will only blow my mind yet again!
Overall: This is a great collection of tracks that was all over far too soon. And that’s coming from an EP that is still 26-minutes in length, bordering on album territory. Part II cannot come soon enough, because I need to hear more of this immediately, if possible! Every track was amazing and put together perfectly. I’d recommend anyone check this out immediately!
The Score: 9/10