PIAH MATER
Piah Mater (Fire Mother?) are a progressive death/black metal band from Brazil. 'The Wandering Daughter' is, I believe, their second album and their first since joining the Code666 roster. This is my first encounter with the guys, so I'm going into this totally fresh. Piah Mater have seemingly heard the Internet's cry of despair - "How can Opeth abandon growls?" - and answered by aping that classic Opeth style. It's an obvious comparison, and one we shouldn't dwell on too much (but I definitely will). 'The Wandering Daughter' shares many of the tropes that made Opeth a big deal (especially post-'Blackwater Park'). Epic song lengths, growls and clean vocals, jazz-influences, proggy time signatures and twists, super clean sustained guitar leads. It's all there, and makes you wonder if this should have been what 'Heritage' sounded like back in 2011. Igor Meira's clean voice is eerily close to the tone and inflection of Mikael Åkerfeldt that it's almost parody.
There's nearly an hour's worth of music, over six tracks, to get your teeth into. And, while the Opeth influences are clear, I'm more taken with the black metal influences, brief though they are. 'The Meek's Inheritance' starts off with a very Enslaved-like combination of vocal gurgling and guitar. So much so that I swear I was listening to 'Ethica Odini' at one point. It's effective and, despite being derivative of yet another band, goes some way to lending Piah Mater their own identity. Indeed, it's this incorporation of genres that could have been their undoing. However, the band effortlessly blend these into a cohesive whole; assuring songs avoid sounding like Frankenstein's Monster. What does become a problem, and this is also true for Opeth, is that by the half-way point I'm craving something that isn't just twisting and turning for the sake of it. The song-writing is certainly very clever, but it's sometimes too much. Having said that, it's a style that's garnered Opeth legions of fans; so, I guess it's my problem, not theirs.
'The Wandering Daughter' is a confident second album from Piah Mater. Despite my issues with the calculated nature of the progressiveness, I can see there's a wealth of talent on display. Piah Mater are not merely copying Opeth, they are taking something they clearly love and carrying that torch. Opeth clearly have abandoned aggressive metal in favour of 70s-influenced prog, so Piah Mater are taking up the mantle. It's very good, and I do recommend it to lovers of Opeth (and Enslaved, to a degree).
There's nearly an hour's worth of music, over six tracks, to get your teeth into. And, while the Opeth influences are clear, I'm more taken with the black metal influences, brief though they are. 'The Meek's Inheritance' starts off with a very Enslaved-like combination of vocal gurgling and guitar. So much so that I swear I was listening to 'Ethica Odini' at one point. It's effective and, despite being derivative of yet another band, goes some way to lending Piah Mater their own identity. Indeed, it's this incorporation of genres that could have been their undoing. However, the band effortlessly blend these into a cohesive whole; assuring songs avoid sounding like Frankenstein's Monster. What does become a problem, and this is also true for Opeth, is that by the half-way point I'm craving something that isn't just twisting and turning for the sake of it. The song-writing is certainly very clever, but it's sometimes too much. Having said that, it's a style that's garnered Opeth legions of fans; so, I guess it's my problem, not theirs.
'The Wandering Daughter' is a confident second album from Piah Mater. Despite my issues with the calculated nature of the progressiveness, I can see there's a wealth of talent on display. Piah Mater are not merely copying Opeth, they are taking something they clearly love and carrying that torch. Opeth clearly have abandoned aggressive metal in favour of 70s-influenced prog, so Piah Mater are taking up the mantle. It's very good, and I do recommend it to lovers of Opeth (and Enslaved, to a degree).
LABEL:
FORMAT:
Code 666
Album
THE WANDERING DAUGHTER
Review by Steve Cowan
RUNNING TIME:
56:23
RELEASE DATE:
5th October 2018
TRACK LISTING
1) Hyster
2) Solace in Oblivion
3) Sprung from Weakness
4) The Sky is Our Shelter
5) Earthbound Ruins
6) The Meek's Inheritance
2) Solace in Oblivion
3) Sprung from Weakness
4) The Sky is Our Shelter
5) Earthbound Ruins
6) The Meek's Inheritance
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:
Brazil
"Piah Mater are not merely copying Opeth, they are taking something they clearly love and carrying that torch. Opeth clearly have abandoned aggressive metal in favour of 70s-influenced prog, so Piah Mater are taking up the mantle."
