...SIŁA I PIĘKNO MUZYKI TKWIĄ W JEJ RÓŻNORODNOŚCI


..::OPIS::..

Pierwszy krążek Mekongów z nowym wokalistą zapożyczonym z amerykańskiej formacji Siren – Dougiem Lee. Wspominam o tym nie bez powodu, bo na tym dwudziestokilkuletnim krążku zespół osiągnął swoje maksimum kadrowe, a sam Dances of Death to, moim skromnym zdaniem, szczytowe osiągnięcie Niemców. Co prawda nie miałem jeszcze okazji zapoznać się z ubiegłorocznym „Intersections”, ale przeglądając zaprzyjaźnione (a także niezaprzyjaźnione) obejścia widzę, że ataku na szczyt raczej nie przeprowadzono. Mimo swojej wrodzonej niewiary w słowa innych, skłonny jestem uwierzyć w taki stan rzeczy – nie mam bowiem (niestety) ani złudzeń, że stać chłopaków na coś równie wielkiego (choć „Wanderer On The Edge Of Time” bezsprzecznie pokazał klasę), ani wątpliwości co do faktu, że „kiedyś to było lepiej, wnusiu” (vide ostatnie dziecko Wolf Spider pt. „Feniks”, ale o tym następną razą). A było tak: wraz ze zmianą wokalisty i pojawieniem się Douga, zespół zboczył w nieco bardziej melodyjne klimaty. Swoistą szorstkość i pogmatwanie zajęły struktury bardziej user-friendly, ale także bardziej post-thrashowe (w dobrym tego terminu rozumieniu). W związku z tym, muzyka nabrała w wielu utworach bardzo repetywnego i transowego charakteru, a jeśli dodać do tego wysokie, śpiewano-skandowane wokale, wyjdzie miks dość niespotykany – jakże jednak zajebisty. Miks zakrzywiający czasoprzestrzeń; przekonać możecie się sami, gdy, ni stąd ni zowąd, słyszycie pierwszy na płycie kawałek, ponownie.

Muzyka ewoluowała w stronę większej przebojowości, nie tracąc nic ze swojego charakteru ani złożoności. Wszystko rozbija się o nieco inne rozmieszczenie akcentów, nowego wokalistę, który przemycił kilka charakterystycznych dla siebie patentów i większy udział melodii w dziele zniszczenia receptorów. Tym bardziej, że melodie te do słodkich nie należą i fanów poweru nie ucieszą. O warsztacie nie ma co pisać, bo że światowej klasy rozumie się samo przez się i, choćby, z poprzednich recenzji. Jest więc tak samo jak na „The Principle of Doubt” tylko lepiej. I tym sposobem mamy drugą „dychę” pod rząd.

ocena: 10/10
deaf


The Mekong Delta career can be split into three periods: 1987-1989; 1990-1994, and 2007-until the present day. Ralph Hubert has kept the level high all these years always finding capable musicians to realise his ultimately complex, classical-haunted schizophrenic visions. He teamed up with the Living Death guitarists during the first period, and their clinical surreal, hallucinogenic shreds made the band a name quickly as suppliers of elaborate, not very accessible at times, but ultimately intelligent progressive thrash. By 1990 the two axemen had to go, and were replaced by just one, the unknown at the time guitar wizard Uwe Baltrusch who brought a warmer, more flexible technical thrash template which worked better alongside the growing classical infatuations of Hubert. After the reformation in the new millennium the man hasn’t been able to keep a steady line-up having worked so far with musicians from Scanner, Helloween, Theory in Practice, Annihilator, etc., and consequently this is the most versatile period from the band’s history with a wider range of influences and styles. Please note that “Pictures at an Exhibition”, the 1997 instalment, hasn’t been included in any of the periods due to its non-metal, too classical-immersed nature.

Although my personal favourite from the band’s discography is “Kaleidoscope”, and I consider the second period the finest one, I haven’t been able to find too many metalheads to share my predilections. In 80% of the cases the preferences go towards the first period with “The Music of Erich Zann” and “The Principle of Doubt” splitting the fans’ opinions as to which the guys’ finest hour is. There’s a lot of greatness emitting from those two, there’s absolutely no doubt about that, but I have always found the Living Death lads’ pyrotechnics way too dry and sterile, making the more elaborate sections even more difficult to decipher, devoid of soul and empathy (who needs these on a metal album, man?! get a grip!). With the arrival of Baltrusch the guitar sound acquired a more volatile, easier to mould, character which made the “thrash vs. classical music” hybridization way more coherent and smoother, and needless to add more melodic. Actually, the guy was already a part of the line-up on “The Principle of Doubt”, but his role on that one was only restricted to providing the leads. On the album reviewed here he handles all the guitarisms, and his talent is on full display all over.

Another important new addition to the line-up was the singer Doug Lee, a former “siren” of the American progressive power metallers Siren. Hubert produced their only foray, and decided that Lee would do no wrong to replace Wolfgang Borgmann, the latter another debatable departure provided that his wailing eccentric, hygienically clean vocals were an indelible part of the band’s early exploits. Hubert was obviously doing a major renovation of the interior… but was all that hassle for the better?

After a short quiet introduction, with which the conceptual part, comprising eight movements, of the album commences the band erupt on “Eruption” with frantic, bouncy thrashing which becomes wilder with time reaching headbanging proportions with ease, with outlandish gallops taking over making this very short instrumental a most eventful riff-fest. “Beyond the Gates” follows suit, and Lee comes to the fore with his exemplary dramatic antics sounding way more proficient than Borgmann’s shaky falcetto. The intricate thrashorama is absolutely compelling with steel sharp riffage cutting deep burrows into the listener’s brain as the latter won’t have much time to absorb everything here despite the several more orthodox passages provided; a stupendous technical thrash stroke splits the song into two this particular passage a pivotal moment on the whole conceptual etude. “Outburst” is exactly that, an outburst, 1.5-min of hectic schizoid riffing which flows into “Days of Betrayal”, the definitive progressive thrashterpiece with frenetic fast-paced crescendos and eclectic dramatic build-ups during the supposed chorus the latter handled by Lee in the most quirky semi-dispassionate manner.

“Restless” is exactly that, one min or restless semi-lead driven thrash which gives way to “Sanctuary”, a brilliant surreal piece with creepy mid-paced hypnotic riffs, more ambitious progressive vortexes and a more dynamic exit all this contained within mere 3-min. “Finale” is naturally the end of the “Dances of Death” opera, a magnificent speed/thrashy tractate with busy jumpy interruptions and some truly memorable riff applications. “Transgressor” is minimalistic technical thrash with superb more laid-back atmospherics Lee outstanding behind the mike producing mesmerizing highly dramatic vocal pirouettes. “True Believers” is another delight for all technical and progressive metal lovers with Hubert taking the upper hand with great vociferous bass support, with twisted leads surrounding the engaging rifforamas which alternate hard-hitting dashes with pacifying “idylls” the meanly spat chorus (“I don’t believe you… parasite”) another highlight on this exemplary multi-faceted composition. But that’s not all as the centrepiece of the whole opus is yet to be savoured, “Night on a Bare Mountain”, an 11-min interpretation of the Modest Mussorgski’s symphony of the same title, a supreme blend of classical structuring and aggressive thrashing shreds, one of the ten best instrumentals in the annals of metal, the main motif alone deserving the price of admission with its infectious melodic roller-coaster vibe; Hubert makes himself heard with several authoritative bassy excursions which usually appear after a hyper-active riff-salad all the way to the meditative balladic finale.

Dancing with Death has never been a more tantalizing proposition the band sounding as convincing as ever after the considerable cosmetic alterations. On “The Principle of Doubt” they really found their stride, and apprehension was definitely up in the air the fanbase worried about future recordings with regards to the line-up changes made, also considering the transformational process that was starting worldwide with new sounds entering the audience’s consciousness. It didn’t take long for the latter to see that that it would be business as usual in the Mekong Delta camp, and that the classic progressive thrash panorama would proceed on full-throttle arguably even sounding more appealing with the new musicians involved. If music-wise the shift wasn’t that radical, Baltrusch’s shreds not drastically different from the ones of his colleagues, in the vocal department Lee definitely sounded more convincing than Borgmann, and not much less bizarre truth be told, especially on those high-strung dramatic, semi-quarrelsome tirades. A great new beginning for everyone involved this effort was which had a most worthy follow-up in the form of the mentioned “Kaleidoscope”, the climax in the band’s career. The seeds for that opus’ grandeur were planted by this album here Hubert dexterously conducting all the performers in one flawlessly arranged, thrashy/classical danse macabre.

Bayern


It is technical thrash metal combined with classical music, how could this be any bad?
After having a very positive experience with Mekong Delta on their fifth album, Kaleidoscope, I have decided to increase the ammount of albums by them that I own, acquiring at one time Dances of Death, Vision Fugitives, Lurking Fear and Wanderer at the Edge of Time and I must say that, with the exception of Lurking Fear, all those releases were nearly incredable, quality-wise, but Dances of Death (and Other Walking Shadows) had a really special quality: in spite of still having separate instances where they played (progressive) thrash metal and then metal arrangements for classical pieces (the second half of the album), they were able to step-up their business and come up with an epic that managed to merge those two parts of their music.

There is no denying that the epic is the center piece of Dances of Death. It accounts for about half of the album's length, it showcases the band full potential al both players and composers, it is able to take you through all sorts of places without straying from the main lines or ideas of the song (the song is really varied and eclectic) and also manages to do all that without wasting your tame with unecessary or unwanted wankery. As I mentioned in my previous Meking Delta review, the band's vocalist isn't very much likeble, but in the suite he does not gets in the way too much, so I can say that he at least does not gets in your way when listening to the song.

The next songs, Transgressor and True Believers, are two thrash songs with an approach that, although more straighforward than that of the suite, don't lag behind regarding the progressive factor. Furthermore, they are so well written that not only the vocalist does not get in the way, but his awkward voice actually fits in these compositions, to my utter surprise.

The final two tracks are instrumental thrash metal adaptations or arrangements of classical compositions, both being originally written by Modest Mussorgsky during the mid 19th century. The first of them is Night on a Bald (or Bare) Mountain and the second is the bonus track The Gnome, part of Modest's piece Pictures at an Exihibition. The adaptations the band does of both songs is very convincing and solid, showing indeed how skilled are these guys.

A comparison that I believe is appropriate to be made here is between them and Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Despite the fact that one of them played rock and the other plays heavy metal, both have similar approaches to their respective style of music, infusing considerable amounts of classical music (with a particular, if not exclusive, preference to the romantic period) in each band's style.

So far in my exploration of Mekong Delta's discography, Dances of Death (and Other Walking Shadows) has proved to be the band's most accomplished album. The compositional habilities of the band are on the top and the pieces they have chosen to cover in the end of the album also prove to be among the highest degree of quality. That is the biggest quality of this album, the compositions: it has very intelligently written and diversed or varied songs. Besides not having a single bad part, the album present us the best moment of a band that pushed the boundaries of thrash metal music, inventing yet another path beyond that initiated by acts like Watchtower and Voivod, what makes them deserving of the best rating.

CCVP



..::TRACK-LIST::..

I. Dances Of Death:
1. Introduction 01:11
2. Eruption 01:34
3. Beyond the Gates 04:52
4. Outburst 01:19
5. Days Of Betrayal 04:14
6. Restless 00:53
7. Sanctuary 03:00
8. Finale 02:06

II. Transgressor 03:17
III. True Believers 05:25
IV. Night On A Bare Mountain 10:24



..::OBSADA::..

Bass, Acoustic Guitar - Björn Eklund
Drums - Gordon Perkins
Guitar [Guitars] - Uwe B.
Vocals - Doug Lee



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4IADCr5Cw4


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