Empyrean Sky - Extending the Tangent 2012

Empyrean Sky is a band delved into the complexity of death and progressive metal combined. They are only got two album on hand, the first one was from 2004 The Snow White Rose of Paradise. It's extremely good released , they are the death metal version of Wintersun time gap epic and release second album only in the end of 2012, 12-21-12 precisely. Extending the Tangent is once again a raw adventure into the riff jungle of melodic death metal.

Song ranging from traditional death metal to thrash and progressive, on opener For the Sun is a nice reminder of classic Kreator sounds. In the second track, The Lost it is more of a deathcore vibes. The Lost come with extreme middle part break where all acoustic guitars carry on a song ala Ayreon space mood. The work of death metal vocal combined with clean voice is sharply utilized in Noise of Conflict. Then the riff in Ascension is following classic '80 sounds with fast power chord per crotchet maneuver. A Sepultura-like Amazon tribal dance is for song Wide Awake. They even trying some theatrical symphonic effect in Trauma and Tragedy, which is a roller coaster of tempo changing as well the singing voice. It is also good thing to even have a melancholy song insert as in Blood of One. A rather different setting is in Where We Belong which is speed metal feel. The last part is instrumental The Law of Tangents with all their raw '80 audio mix sound.

Here is a highly eclectics album with death metal and progressive as main core of menu. Extending the Tangent is success in bringing attention from the earlier start of every tracks. The clear transposing from fast to slow is a bit repetition but it permissive by their melodic solos or riff. Clearly a works of talented team that transform this album into quite an exhaustive listening of 70 minutes. Singer John Welborn come with vast range of singing style, from classic '80 Death sound into modern deathcore screamer. A superior outcome to their first release and definitely a worth collection for death metaller.

Metal Harem class: ******** eight stars out of ten

Empyrean Sky - Extending the Tangent 2012


1. For the Sun 05:14
2. The Lost 05:20
3. Noise of Conflict 04:02
4. Ascension 06:00
5. Wide Awake 08:44
6. Trauma and Tragedy 07:46
7. Blood of One 08:15
8. Exterminatus 08:14
9. Where We Belong 08:58
10. The Law of Tangents 06:23

John Welborn, guitars, vocals, drum programming
Doug McAllister, guitars
Allen Mate, bass