The Human Abstract
Digital Veil

Classical Music and Heavy Metal.

A combination that has worked for many, but with mixed results: think of the entire discography of Yngwie "More is More" Malmsteen (if it can be considered Heavy Metal) or the aforementioned Fleshgod Apocalypse, and many others, who have simply thrown in some harmonic minor here and there, to self-label themselves as "neoclassical" musicians.

Then there are The Human Abstract, champions of a melodic, hyper-technical Progressive Metal strongly inspired by all that classical music that still fills the salons of various capitals: here we go beyond mere fleeting inspiration, as the entire instrumental and even vocal apparatus present in the album could easily be transposed onto a beautiful piano, without the songs losing a single note.

This is mainly thanks to the band's axeman, AJ Minette, an exceptional guitarist with an impressive compositional taste, able to weave complex yet frighteningly melodic sound textures, climbing through ultra-memorable riffs and arpeggios that indeed recall that culture now present "only" in the various conservatories scattered throughout our peninsula and around the world: it is impossible not to mention tracks like Antebellum, an epic seven-minute-plus progressive ride that I consider the true masterpiece of the album, powerful, epic (indeed), hyper-technical, and ultra-melodic, while the other tracks settle on the same level of beauty, power, and compositional flair, even the "barrage" that spills into core like the title track, results in elegance in their martial progression, and do not degrade into the usual clichés of the various "similar" band clones like Darkest Hour, Killswitch Engage, et cetera, present everywhere.

Elegance, power, and melody are the cornerstones of an album that is monstrously underrated by most, alas, attracted by the usual aseptic and brainless breakdowns of the various offerings of those years, or by soulless virtuosity scattered everywhere.

Individually, there is an excellent balance between all the elements: an effective but not obvious clean voice, a strong and "acidic" growl/scream just right, a rhythm section that perfectly follows a monstrous work from the guitar point of view, even from the rhythm guitarist.

In short, the crystalline and sharp production at the right point is the final touch of class for an important work to unite two worlds seemingly antithetical like Classical and Metal, two genres that have had peaks and abysses of epic proportions throughout their history, but that continue to play an important role in the development of modern music today.

Classic.