Best Songs on Ne Obliviscaris' Citadel

Ne Obliviscaris (aka NeO for short) are an extreme progressive metal band from Australia, formed in 2003. They play progressive death metal similar to Opeth and Obscura but insist on "extreme progressive metal" probably trying to avoid associations with death metal bands like Cannibal Corpse, for example. Because they sound nothing like Cannibal Corpse.

Ne Obliviscaris released their debut album in 2012 and Citadel is their 2nd album released in 2014.

The band name is in Latin and translates to "forget not" (pronounced "Nay Ob-li-vis-kar-is").

These guys are very talented - 3 excellent albums as of 2017 so I can conclude they are very consistent. Their 2017 album, Urn, will be remembered as one of the best metal albums of 2017 (my personal favorite of 2017).

Ne Obliviscaris are a progressive band and you already know what to expect: long songs, technical stuff, and of course - that progressive feel and sound. But frequent use of violin makes their sound unique and different from the other prog metal bands.
They also combine angelic clean vox with evil harsh vox and their songs are heavy and melodic at the same time.
They also have great bass lines, violin, cello, dueling solos on guitar and violin (something you don't hear everyday).

Lyrical themes of "Citadel" deal with internal struggle and perhaps battling one's demons. All songs that aren't instrumental combine clean vox and growls.

Personnel:
Tim Charles - Vocals (clean), Violin, Piano
Xenoyr - Vocals (harsh), Lyrics
Matt Klavins - Guitars
Benjamin Baret - Guitars (lead)
Brendan "Cygnus" Brown - Bass
Daniel "Mortuary" Presland - Drums
The Top Ten
1 Devour Me, Colossus, Pt. I (Blackholes)

It's a 12:37 minute long song - it offers melody and tempo changes, pleasant bass lines, intriguing melodies, violin taking the lead, amazing clean vox complemented by harsh vox, guitar riffs paired with the violin (even violin solo), then bass paired with the violin, and so on...

Please read cjWriter1997's comments in his remix, they are awesome. And yes, him and me independently came to similar conclusions so we have similar opinion on this album and this band.

2 Painters of the Tempest, Pt. II (Triptych Lux)

Easily my favourite song from the band, while And Plague Flowers the Kaleidoscope is an amazing song with an incredible intro, with the song's composition worthy of having it studied at a conservatorium of music, I do find this song to be superior, as the violin is woven through even more perfectly, with the maturity of the band clearly showing, through the slower, beautiful clean sections feeling even more impactful to me

It was difficult to choose between this and Devour Me, Colossus, Pt. I (Blackholes) that I put at #1. I like both.
This is the longest song on this album,16:35 minutes. If you love long musical journeys with interesting turns, this is for you. In one song you hear elements of several metal subgenres. There are also different uses of the instruments - distorted guitars, clean guitars, bass and violin take leads when possible, and so on. Xenoyr performs many long and brutal screams in this song.

3 Pyrrhic

9:50 long, with 2 distinct parts: in the first half blast beats are used more often than the band usually do meaning it's a heavier part.
The 2nd half is softer - Tim cleans are excellent as well as Xenoyr growls. Violin takes the lead when possible and I like it.

4 Painters of the Tempest, Pt. I (Wyrmholes)

This is the opening track - a soft instrumental (3:08) heavily influenced by classical music. Lead instruments are piano and violin, played by the lead singer Tim Charles - it sounds impressive.

5 Painters of the Tempest, Pt. III (Reveries from the Stained Glass Womb)

A not very long instrumental that is soft and sad. Tim's violin is really crying, backed by acoustic... flamenco guitar. Yes, there's some flamenco vibe to this piece (their lead guitarist is trained in flamenco guitar).

6 Devour Me, Colossus, Pt. II (Contortions)

It's a 2:27 minute long instrumental that is the closing track.

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