Apophany
Neuma, 2022
8/10
An extremely diverse artist, Nick Vasallo is as well versed in extreme metal as he is orchestral sounds, and here tone, mood and timbre are manipulated with an unparalleled attention to detail.
The University of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, with Nicolas Waldvogel conducting, opens the listen with a curious atmosphere of ominous sounds that are both bare and booming with a cinematic presence in “Ein Sof”, and “When The War Began” follows with the Redshift Ensemble making a firm impression with quivering strings and dense percussion.
Deeper into the listen, “The Eternal Return” features the Drexel University Concert Band and Wesley Broadnax as conductor for the tense and dynamic album highlight of emotive ambience, while “The Moment Before Death Stretches on Forever, Like An Ocean Of Time…” follows with a low droning that displays the furious drumming of Wild Rumpus.
The final two tracks, “Inches Away From Freedom” and “Black Swan Events”, don’t disappoint either, where the former buzzes mysteriously in the very capable hands of The Living Earth Show, ORE, Gleb Kanesevich, and John McCowen, and the latter enlists the California State University East Bay Orchestra and Victor Dods on guitar for the metallic shredding of the adventurous and abrasive exit.
You’re not likely going to hear anything like this anywhere else, and it’s even more likely you’ll want to hear it again, as Vasallo and company pen a raw yet meticulous, serene yet hard hitting journey of genre defying chamber, classical, orchestral and metal sounds.
Travels well with: Tyler Kline- Orchard; Daniel Pesca- Promontory