#paranorm

The Generals - To Hell

Wait, who’s interviewing who here!?

Estreno en cines: 3 de Mayo 2018

Paranorm aka Parakhan is an underground rapper and skater from South Bend, IN., who currently lives in Los Angeles, CA. He’s also member of the groups KAMALA, and OMNIGOD. In 1999 he put out the ‘God vs. The Devil’ EP, produced by his head deejay Strictnine.

Paranorm - Empyrean I just reviewed the new Without Waves album, entitled Comedian, and I talked a bit about progressive metal and my thoughts on it. I have mixed thoughts on the genre, mainly that I want to like it more than I do, only because a lot of place more emphasis on being flashy and their instrumental prowess versus writing accessible and catchy songs. I guess that’s not the point, though, as progressive metal does imply something exactly that -- more progressive -- it’s just that there can be a sweet spot. Without Waves kind of managed that, especially with their cool blend of djent and post-metal, but the last few songs on the album were really long, and had a slower prog-rock / post-metal sound to them, ultimately taking me out of the album and making it feel longer than it was (and the album was already a whopping 55 minutes). I ended up finding another progressive band a couple of days later, only a couple of things are different about them. This band, Sweden’s Paranorm, released their debut album, Empyrean, last year, and they’re not a djent band, but a progressive thrash and death metal band. Now that’s more or less my speed. I enjoy a lot of thrash and death metal, even if I’m not super into progressive thrash or death metal (I do like some bands, though, but it’s not a sub-genre that I frequent, I suppose). I read some reviews on this album, and they were over the moon, so I had to check it out just to see what the hype was at least. Oh, I get the hype, all right. This band absolutely rules in every single way, but (and that’s an unfortunate “but”) there are some glaring problems I have with this record. It’s not even with the band themselves, it’s more or less the same issues I had with Without Waves’ Comedian, only in a bit of a different way. First off, and let’s get this straight, this band sounds fantastic. Their sound is definitely progressive thrash and death metal, and it sounds great; these guys are extremely talented all the way around, whether it’s the vocals, guitars, bass, or drums. I mean, everything is in sync, and it sounds great. I have no problems with the instrumentation at all, and there are some killer, killer solos on here. Every song has a million different solos that just rip and roar. That’s sort of the problem, though, because this album rarely gives you a chance to breathe, especially when it’s 54 minutes and every song is around 6 or 7 minutes long. That’s the same problem I had with Kvaen’s new album, The Great Below, a blackened speed metal band that had great instrumentation, but they didn’t leave any room to breathe on the record (although that album was a lot shorter). At 54 minutes, this type of sound can be a lot to take in, especially when the songs are long, and they don’t have any real structure to them. This is the issue with prog-metal that I have as a whole, not just this band. This band does feel self-indulgent at times, like they want the listeners to know how great they can play, versus crafting songs that you want to keep going back to. Like with The Great Below, there are so many memorable parts, I don’t know which one to mention first. The whole album ends up running together, but not because it’s derivative, instead it’s just nonstop and every song is a winner. That’s a good problem to have, but this album is a little overwhelming to listen to, especially when I’m getting into a lot of other stuff, it’s just hard for me to go back to this one as much as I want. I’ve only played it a handful of times, just because of how much is happening on it. I do want to stress, though, that this album is awesome. If you’re into thrash or death metal, it’s worth hearing. These guys can play their asses off, and if you’re more concerned with riffs, solos, and stuff like that, you’ll like it a lot. I like hooks, accessibility, and catchiness, which this doesn’t have at all, but that doesn’t really bother me. It just bugs me that this album is almost an hour long, so it feels like a chore to listen to, especially when the songs themselves are packed to the brim with so many ideas, it’s a lot to take in. The album’s very good, though, and I’m glad I heard it. I’d just take some precautions if you’re not used to more progressive metal, especially in the vein of thrash and death metal, because it’s intense. Not in the sense of being a grindcore album, but it’s just a lot of riffs and solos. It’s jampacked, but it’s not a bad thing at all. These guys rule, and if this is only their debut album, they’re definitely a band worth watching. I just hope the rest of the metal world eventually pays attention to them, too.

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