Reviews roundup – Fernando Perdomo ~ Indign ~ Atheris ~ Resurrector
FERNANDO PERDOMO
Out To Sea 3: The Storm
Forward Motion Records
It only seems a month or so since I last heard a Fernando Perdomo album. Which is mainly because it was.
That was his King Crimson tribute thing but now he’s back with the third and final part of his “Out To Sea” trilogy. As the subtitle “The Storm” suggests things get wee but wilder here than on the previous releases. Something that suits me.
If you know his name it’s probably because of his work with Dave Kerzner which is well worth checking out. This record is probably more mainstream prog than the previous installments and anyone who is a fan of seventies guitar prog when the likes of Steve Hackett, Peter Banks and Jan Akkerman ruled the world will find an awful lot to enjoy here. This time around he’s brought in Dave Bainbridge (best known from Iona) on keyboards as well as Preston Murdock on additional guitar, Roger Houdaille on bass and Mark Murdock (The ID, Empire) on drums and unusually for a project session, they really do mesh well together.
It’s not all wild and crazy and there is a depth to tunes like ‘Frenzy’, ‘Doom Is Often Loud’ and ‘Wonder’ that keeps drawing you back in. And in a nod to the days of yore the cover art is by Paul Whitehead who was responsible for “Trespass”, “Nursery Cryme” and “Foxtrot” by Genesis. Yes, there’s a lot of retro sounds in here but Fernando Perdomo throws in enough modern licks to keep the 21st century prog fans happy An excellent release.
https://www.fernandoperdomo.com
INDIGN
Autumn Storm
GreatApe Records
Well that was cheery. Just what I needed. An album with tales of isolationism, religious discontent and the final thoughts before dying from disease. On the other hand I’d quite like Indign to choose my lottery numbers for me.
They can trace their on / off history back to 2004 but with a few splits over the year (you know, deployment to Afghanistan, that sort of thing), it took them a while to get to this point. And as befits their age, there is a lot of thrashy nineties metal on offer here. Heck, they even close with a cover of the Six Feet Under tune ‘The Enemy Inside’.
But their own material is good. There’s some harsh guitars, a bit of groove metal, some eighties thrash, a bit of metalcore. And it all pulls together well. The record has a raw edge to it which I’m graciously putting down as deliberate. The opening ‘House Of Horrors’ is a definite highlight and they follow the old Tom Dowd maxim of putting your best two songs on first and the next best as the opening of Side Two. Which in modern money is where ‘Necromantic Light’ comes in with its dragon slaying. The title track with guest vocals from Ania Tarnowska is another good one, and overall they’ve made a fine album.
ATHERIS
Make / Believe
independent
Some prog metal now and a bonus point for the band giving a shout to a local kebab shop. It’s only right.
Turns out they first got together when they were at music college. Which explains why there is a fine display of virtuosity on display. Then they split up only to get back together a couple of years back when they were proper grown ups.
And they’re good at this. It’s mainly prog metal with a few power metal moments. There’s hints of Crimson Glory and Savatage in there and they do a gran job of mixing the heavy with the lighter moments, no more so than on the album highlight ‘As I Fly’. But they can do the complex stuff as well and if that’s your thing then you’ll want to check out ‘Martyr’ Parts 1 and 2. Quite often it can be the vocals that let albums of this ilk down but Matt Edwards does a grand job of bringing the lyrics to life.
Musically, there is nothing to fault and the production, for an indie release, is good enough. A wee bit of cash and a lot of exposure and the UK could have a prog metal band to challenge the big boys.
https://www.atherisofficial.com
RESURRECTOR
Against The Grain
independent
Off to the mid-West of America where North Dakota and Minnesota meet for some fairly trad metal.
It seems as though Resurrector would really like to have been around at the time that the NWOBHM was spluttering to a close and the first stirrings of US thrash metal were taking off. So 1983/1984.
And if this had come around about then I could see them easily becoming popular on the tape trading circuit (ask yer Da). They’ve got a couple of good tunes in there. The opening ‘Misdirection’ is probably the best of them although I was also quite taken with ‘Ghost Of Me’. The whole thing is on that cusp of classic metal and the harder things that were to come.
Thing is, the engineering and production isn’t very good. I know it’s hard when you’re doing things for yourself but this would have worked a lot better as an EP. Four songs or so. The vocals are good, the percussion isn’t. There’s talent in there, it just needs to be put on display in a better light.
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St Columba’s Hospice Tribute Fund for Linda Hamilton
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The Rocker - The Artist Formerly Known As Zeitgeist. TAFKAZ 
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