Album Review no.24: Quiet World - Native Consruct
Quiet world is the debut album of progressive metal band Native Construct and was released in 2015. It combines a wide variety of musical elements ranging from harsh vocals to symphonic sections, making for a creative album and a unique listen. This album review was requested by cjWriter1997.Mute:
The album starts off with a bang through an absolutely breathtaking intro. The ambient noise at the start becoming such a wonderful mix of operatic vocals and a sweeping symphonic section was unexpected, yet something that I love. The song in general is extremely eclectic, jumping cramming an absurd amount of transitions and sections into a 6 minute song. The vocals are quite good, and the harmonies really add another layer to the song. My favourite part other than the intro is in the middle where all of the instruments become quite subdued and the line "Ca-Ra-Zu Ni-Mu Pa-Tu, he has created us from a point of view, we did not choose, we are all broken, singing" is repeated multiple times, as I find it very calming and catchy, and the buildup to the regular vocals is exquisite. Overall, I find this to be an exceptionally crafted song.
10/10
The Spark of the Archon:
I'm not as keen on this song as most of the others, simply because I just find it to be somewhat dull in places, the intro being a good example of this. The parts where the keyboard is predominantly used sound quite cheesy and take detract from the song. Despite this, I find a great deal of the song to be high quality, especially the drumming, which really stands out in this particular song. The sections where most of the noise is ambient with just a few chords or a repeating riff also bring down the song to a degree, as they seem to only serve the purpose of extending the song, as I feel like they go on for too long, causing the song to be nowhere near as memorable as many others. I find this song to be a mixed bag with some amazing elements, especially the drumming, but has a few flaws that prevent me from loving the song, although I can comfortably say that it's more good than bad.
8/10
Passage:
While lyrics aren't usually something I pay too much attention to, the contrast between the music box-esque intro with the extremely dark lyrics talking about something like the murder of a small girl really caught me off guard and sold me on the band. The instrumentals carry a lot of emotional power that couldn't be found on the first two tracks, overall creating an absolutely stunning song. On top of this, the song has one of my favourite unconventional metal instruments of all time, the saxophone, which usually gives me a much higher opinion of whatever song I'm listening to. The increased tempo in the second half of the song works well with the short burst of rough vocals as well as making the gradual diminuendo directly after make the entire situation the song is conveying feel that much more sad and hopeless. This is definitely one of my favourites on the album.
10/10
Your Familiar Face:
If anyone wishes so, could you please tell me what kind of genre this song predominantly is? It's extremely familiar, but I can't quite pinpoint it. In any case, this is a much more simplistic song than the others in the album, barely featuring any transitions and instead deciding to stick to one main style and simply build on it from there, which is nice. When the guitars kick in, the song becomes darker and almost like a Mr Bungle song, even down to the vocals, which have a quality similar to that of Mike Patton. This slight bit of variation combined with the song just sounding pleasant in general makes it another worthwhile listen.
10/10
Come Hell or High Water:
The violin at the start is magnificent and leads into a really nice, smooth opening section that sounds like something that someone could slow dance to. Once again, vocal harmonies are rife and add so much depth to the singing. The harsh vocals were such a major surprise, but easily my favourite part of the song, as the distinct contrast between them and the soft music is interesting, and everything becomes more chaotic as they go on. It also contains my favourite line in the album, talking about hacking away at someone with fine cutlery. The one issue with the song is a 10 second section with some of the most absurd vocals I've heard in ages, which took away any kind of significance of the song to me, leaving the last minute for me trying to get back into the song. I'm happy it's only a small issue, but it's still one nonetheless.
9/10
Chromatic Lights:
There isn't much to say about this one, it's just a two minute instrumental interlude that I found slightly boring, it's a nice bridge between the two songs, but that's about it
8/10
Chromatic Aberration:
The intro to this song continues nicely from Chromatic Lights, which shared the riff of the previous song. It is quickly set up that this song will be some sort of climax to the story that this album tells, with the high pitched violin combined with the sounds of metal clanking, possibly relating to preparation for a battle of some sort. The vocals are extremely unique and seem to show someone who is losing all sanity and being driven mad. The bass is at its finest here as well. After the song slows down and goes through a couple of minutes of slowing down, a great bass riff begins and continues for the next few minutes, as the music becomes more eerie with the quiet vocals in the background sounding ever so slightly off-putting. This song is definitely deserving of the label of epic, as each section continues to progress this story that I can understand at a basic level, even without knowing the lyrics well, simply due to how much is told through the music, which is an admirable quality. The outro is also extremely good, as the chaotic nature of it ends the album on a great note.
10/10
4*10 + 9 + 2*8 + 3*9.3 = 93/100
Final Thoughts:
I find this album to be excellent, it's unique, interesting, charming, and sometimes just downright fun. The best way I can describe them is a mix between Dream Theater, Between the Buried and Me, and Queen. I find their music to occasionally lack sufficient depth or maturity, but considering that this is just their first album, there are surprisingly few times which I feel it stands out. I'm excited to see where this band goes from here, because they are already showing that they have a lot of potential. I'd recommend the whole album to anyone who enjoys to listen to somewhat strange bands, as they'll find a lot of variety in this. For the casual listener, I feel like there will be at least one song that you won't mind at the very least, especially Your Familiar Face, although Mute is also recommended.
Comments
Definitely a good album. I think Your Familiar Face was trying to go for a big band/swing musical type of song. Although I'm not sure the exact style either. - cjWriter1997