MaterDea
Pyaneta

Back to Earth they arrive in the first track of the new album called Pyaneta, Italian band MaterDea arrives with their fifth effort that on the cover looks quite interesting. It is a seven piece band with cello and violin included among the musicians, Celtic or pagan metal is how they are described in the press material – kind of logical considering the use of strings etc. They released the debut album back in 2009 so they are a band that has gathered quite a bit of recording experience now and been around for about a decade so they should be starting to know what they are doing. So how about it? Is Pyaneta an interesting album? Well, an album that celebrates our little pale blue dot in the blackness of space should be worth the effort I think.

Earthly tones, I think folk/pagan/celtic metal are descriptions that will most widely be used to describe this album. It is folk music inspired metal with strings adding depth to the metallic tones coming from the distorted guitars and drums, I think they balance quite well between melodies and power. Good vocals that are mostly female, there are some male vocals to add a bit more to some songs but the vocals are predominantly female and they are good. I think she has a good presence through the album, an album that is fairly varied between the softer and more straightforward catchy metal songs. Reasonably fresh sound as well, it is an hour of music that can be described as well-crafted by solid musicians. Should work really well for a walk among the trees.

Neverland is the song that catches me when I listen to this album, this is the song where I feel that the band is at their best, the song I want to return to when I think MaterDea – unfortunately I would also say that it is the only memorable song on the album. The other songs are solid tracks but not really tracks that makes you want to return and play the album over again, not even once – it is Neverland that stands out like a lake of floating water on the sun or a dodo bird on Antarctica. This quality difference between the highlight and the rest of the album works in a slightly detrimental way because I tend to loose interest in the rest of the album, not because it is bad but because it not really interesting compared with the best the band has to offer. It seems that they have greatness to offer but they don’t really manage to make a great album here.

Ending the review also ends my relationship with this band, they will end up in the same place as the majority of music I review, too bad about the track Neverland that is really great but the rest of the album is not as good. Fans of the band and fans of the folk/pagan metal will probably be more impressed with this album than myself though, so if you are one of those fans you should have a look at the album. It is a good album but the lasting impression is that it should have been much better.

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