Persefone - Aathma

I’ll be honest, I haven’t totally been looking forward to writing about this one. It’s been awhile since it came out and I’ve not been able to avoid the expressed opinions of many about the album. I’ve heard/read essentially unanimous applause for this thing and as I’ve continued to listen to Aathma I enjoy it a lot and I think it is their best work yet, but I fail to see what it is that has brought so many people to the point of revering this as a god-tier progressive metal masterpiece. It’s good, it’s even better than good. But for me, I really can’t say that at this point this is anything more than a pretty good, standard progressive metal album. I don’t see this becoming a cornerstone of the next level of progressive metal or really even imparting a whole lot of influence onto the genre in the future; not that that’s what makes a good album, there’s no such thing as objective good in the musical preference department. What I’m trying to say is that I don’t think it’s as big of a deal as it’s being made out to be. I can’t see Aathma joining the ranks of Dream Theater’s or Between the Buried and Me’s most influential releases, and that’s partially because this album borrows so heavily from those groups’ seminal works, not to the point that it’s distracting or potentially unoriginal, just that Persefone seem to just be another band in the prog metal ring throwing very similar punches to those of their peers and their forefathers.

The band have definitely found a production that best fits them on this release and it complements the multi-layered ether of sound they weave in and out of each song. The musicians’ technical abilities remain an admirable part of their compositions as each instrumentalist manages to put forth a display of both gorgeous and intricate contributions to the layer for which they are responsible. While their song-writing has improved, it remains a tough hurdle for them to overcome at numerous points on the album, succumbing to more-than-occasional lapses in self-indulgence and typical prog-metal-isms. Their writing does shine magnificently on the epic 20-minute album closer, which builds this grand, transcendentally atmospheric swirl of dancing instrumentals that remind me of what Devin Townsend tried to achieve on his DTP album last year, as well as on the transcendent “Living Waves” and on the gracefully powerful “Spirals Within Thy Being”. But so many sections in songs like “Stillness is Timeless” and “Vacuum” play rather inconsequentially and meander blindly (but elegantly) rather than progress in a clearly intentional way. The four-part title track, though, indeed stands out as the most thoughtful, creative, cohesively transcendent, and unique part of the album. It’s here that Persefone present their most world class progressive metal quality and I’d say that during these 20 minutes, this record is indeed a masterpiece.

While I certainly don’t want to rain on Persefone’s parade, I do have my gripes with this still very good album. I think if this album was less acclaimed than it seems it is, I’d be enjoying writing this more right now, because I really do enjoy it; I think it’s the best progressive metal release I’ve heard this year next to Lykaia. But because I just feel like I’m not getting that feeling of euphoria that comes from hearing something I would call a complete masterpiece that everyone else seems to be getting, I can’t help but be that damp towel. It’s not at all that I want people to bring their level of enjoyment down to mine like mine is the appropriate level of excitement to be at about this record for everyone. I’m happy that this band is receiving this high praise and love from prog metal fans because they indeed deserve it for the evidently meticulous work they put into this album. I just wish I could be a part of it to the extent that the band’s adoring fans are, I just can’t, not genuinely. Again, I have been thoroughly enjoying this album since it came out and I wish Persefone all the best for their future projects; I’ll definitely be anticipating whatever they do next, if they do continue. And I hope they do, because they are getting better, they’ve shown that they could improve on their previous work and create something truly grand, and this album could be a great precursor to a potentially great future Persefone album (in my eyes). And I hope this acclaim they’ve received, rather than appease their artistic ambitions, drives them to even further levels of creativity and inspires them to push their own boundaries in such a way that they create an even more enthralling experience than the great parts of Aathma.