Ansur
Warring Factions

And so, without warning, they hit the jackpot.

I'm not talking about the heist that happened on April 23, 1956, at the most prestigious bank in Washington DC, managing to steal over 5 million dollars (and at that time it was money) and messing with the minds of all the security systems of the 50 (now it must be 60 or 70) American states. But I am not talking about that, instead, I am speaking about a fairly young group that believes they make good progressive metal mixed with a bunch of other genres from various places and times, and they succeed.

If you know Ansur for their very first work "Axiom" I tell you right away that they have completely changed direction and now the dark and gloomy places of that Axiom are well dissolved and thinned out. They should be given a 3.5 just for the radical, very radical, change made in just 2 years from the first album in 2006. A change comparable only to the early demos of Cynic, the Dream Theater of '89, or Katatonia from '93 until now.

"Warring Factions" presents itself like a pyramid, but upside down... or rather as a tree with progressive/avant-garde roots and numerous well-dilated branches that reach upwards, touching every nuance of the immense sky called "Music": from Thrash to Fusion, from Alternative to Hard Rock, from Power to Technical, from Extreme to Classical, from Folk to good old Seventies Progressive Rock, from Tribal to Death even reaching for several minutes a sort of Country.

An excellent work, which a respectable group would have taken ten years but they reduced to 2, definitively leaving that mystical black metal with avant-garde hints from the first Axiom. An apotheosis dammit! To wrap it up with the genre, I would call it an Extreme Progressive Metal, but not the nostalgic Opeth kind, much, much more radical, reasoned, virtuous, and noble. But the most absurd thing is that the group is made up of only 3 people!! And I'll tell you more, in the end, it’s merely a certain Torstein Nipe pulling the strings, the puppet master who juggles alone with guitars, basses, and various keyboards, in addition to mixing and putting in the most money for the record label. Are we facing a small genius? I hope so.

The album besides having a very high quality, has an enticing cover (I downloaded it just for the cover) designed entirely by Eliran Kantor, also the designer of "Jupiter" by Atheist and "The Formation of Damnation" by Testament (not bad). It also has a decidedly high length: 7 songs for a total of an hour and a little more. The work is of a crazy balance, I hadn't heard such reasoned music since an "Awake" of '94 dammit. The drums are dry, essential but well arranged. The guitars are very complex, both the classical and electric ones (don't get frightened if you hear rhythms composed of 2 classical and 2 electric ones, they are at the minute's order), the solos are exquisite, of a certain complexity and research. The bass alas is very subordinate, otherwise it would not be called "bass". But in its place, we can find tubular keyboards (those vibrant from progressive rock or at weddings?) truly classy, always performed by the puppet master Torstein Nipe (honor). A pity for the voice which seems a hybrid between Kreator and Mothoread rough (do you have Rasputin in Anastasia in mind? For those who know cartoons), but don’t worry, the use of the voice in this album is little used, but you'll soon get used to it. The album is a concept based on the post-apocalyptic scene presented by the first "Axiom".

At the origin of everything is "The Tunguska Incident". Damn if this isn't beautiful, between a technical like Watchtower and a fusion like Cynic accompanied by a majestic saxophone, handled by an Anja Nedremo. The final sprint is really from great prog masters.

"Sierra Day" is the shortest but also the most serious, reflective, spontaneous... typical Dream Theater song (if it weren't for the voice obviously). Truly beautiful, it has a really special ending where the same saxophone from before connects to a splendid guitar solo made with flair and its own rhythmic darn. And the orgasms flip wonderfully.

"Phobos Anomaly" is perhaps the most rhythmic and thrashy but with numerous Shoegaze infusions. "An Exercise in Depth of Field" is one of the most experimental, in the first 30 seconds it goes from a Scottish tribal to a thrash megadettian to a neoclassical like Petrucci until reaching a reasoned metal undefinable by any adjective known to me. Just half a dozen time changes and we find ourselves immersed in an... oh! What the heck?? I just entered a stupid mid-800 saloon and I’m about to sit next to drenched drunks and bearded shameless cowboys. They scream. Only later do I realize that they are cheering the small band on a small beer-stained stage. And they're playing, is it country? My ears can't believe it! Excuse me! I can't believe my ears! And they giggle, but what are they laughing at. A couple of minutes and always unconsciously the group of drunks turns into a crowd of good rockers to mosh. Now I find myself in a colossal Guns concert, dammit! And we get back on the straight tracks. An Oscar-worthy ending: 3 classical guitars intersect with each other forming a dense and gapless mesh.

"At His Wit's End" is another classy, rather apocalyptic atmospheric one. Sorry if I don't get too long. A fade-out ending done with great wisdom. And the rumble starts! Let's go, let’s go!! "Cloudscaper" is another very varied thrash song, well infused with a fusion and a shoegaze.

"Prime Warring Eschatologist" is the last beautiful long and harsh song. In it, you can perceive a bit of Katatonia (from '96) and Pestilence. Really unique. Then it moves to the more common Heavy until it joins a nice ballad of a couple of minutes all in classical, here the quieter and more reflective Ansur takes over, Torstein Nipe gives vent to a reasoned piano solo accompanied by a splendid classical and Allevi gets toppled by so much refinement. The final climax sees all the instruments concentrated in a voracious struggle.

To conclude, I can say that this diamond is a must.

On a scale of ten, a 9+ would suit it.

I hope the review and especially the album delighted you.

BY LUGREZZO