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Cast your minds back to 2011. A Swedish band called Opeth, whom I’m sure anyone with even a bit of interest in metal music has heard of, dropped their latest album entitled Heritage, and produced something with a vastly different sound to what came before it. Naturally the album received both its fair share of praise and derision, and it was a classic example of being a fanbase divider. Well fortunately for those that found themselves less than impressed with Opeth’s latest effort, there now exists the debut full-length album from young Mexican group The Advent Equation (formerly known as simply Advent), called Limitless Life Reflections. Do they sound like Opeth? No. I mean sure, they can be placed in the same bracket, but The Advent Equation do not rip Opeth off. That said they do draw an easy comparison through the use of similar aesthetics. Limitless Life Reflections was released independently in 2012.
Like Opeth, The Advent Equation are best described as progressive death metal or extreme progressive metal. This is highly progressive music featuring both melodic clean vocals and deep deathly growling. This is why Opeth remains the best comparison for of this sort of act though, because unlike say Obscura or Augury, whose music contains constant reminders that death metal is the true driving force behind the music, The Advent Equation don’t exactly structure their songs around death metal riffs, at least not as often. In this sense they may even be more varied in their approach than the typical Opeth album is. Limitless Life Reflections generally favours a long song format, the shortest being Visions of Pain at 6:35, and it’s the sort of music where you can expect many a curveball to be thrown at you during its over an hour duration across eight songs. Expect combinations of piano with heavy riffs and growling vocals, light and melodic non-metal sections, female vocals, jazzy bits and more.
The Advent Equation have produced a debut here that sets their bar high for future records. The prowess of the musicians both of players and composers is evident throughout and the music is creative without becoming self-indulgent. Bearing in mind that Limitless Life Reflections is a self-released affair the standard of professionalism is very high. I personally enjoyed Heritage, but even a part of me thinks that this is the album Opeth should have made after Watershed, because with Limitless Life Reflections The Advent Equation have shown themselves to be a contender to take away the Swedes crown as the kings of extreme progressive metal and an exceptional grade rating is deserved.
93/100
(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org/the-advent-equation-limitless-life-reflections-t2715.html))