Irish band THE DYSTOPIAN PROJECT is a fairly recent addition to the rock circuit in their native country, and have operated from their home base of Dublin since they were formed in the summer of 2013. “Death Leaves an Echo” is their debut album, although the band prefers to describe it as an EP. In the old vinyl days this would have been cited and released as a mini album I suspect, clocking in at just a few seconds shy of 33 minutes.
This self-described progressive rock band provides us with 5 cuts on this production, and explore three different types of music in those. The opening three cuts all share some traits: They are by and large metal in overall style, feature some progressive rock elements but are otherwise more oriented towards a symphonic metal overall style. Some structural elements and the voice of lead singer Antonia Close does bring French progressive rock band Delusion Squared to mind: One might say that The Dystopian Project at least to some extent comes across as a symphonic metal variation of that relatively obscure band.
The two remaining songs on this album are of a rather different character altogether. Last Innocent Man is the typical ballad so many metal bands feels a need to include. A song that relies heavily on the vocals top carry it, how successful or not it is in this depends very much on how well you enjoy the lead singer and the additional vocal presences. A pleasant enough affair as far as I’m concerned, but lacking any features that elevates it to a higher plane in my personal opinion.
Concluding piece Winter’s Hall, while sharing some of the ballad aspects of the previous cut, as a rather more advanced creation altogether. The keyboard arrangements are better developed, and helps carry the song alongside the vocals, and the composition comes across as more advanced as well as interesting in both arrangements and structure. That it develops from a relatively gentle style towards a more powerful, symphonic tinged metal one towards the end isn’t much of a surprise in itself, but this is executed well, the build-up logical and compelling, and the concluding gentler phase providing a well developed feeling of closure.
The main weak points on this album can be found in the mix and production, where the harder hitting opening trio of songs suffers a bit from a mix that in my opinion is too loud and too compressed, giving me the impression that the instruments and vocals are fighting for more space in a too confined area. A bit chaotic and just too loud and overpowering for me, at least when played through headphones. I rather suspect that a bit more of a less is more approach to those tracks would make them stand out a bit more and highlight their better qualities to a greater degree than in their current guise. The final two tracks fares a whole lot better here though, most likely because they are by and large calmer creations with less overpowering elements, thus allowing the instruments and vocals to have space and to, allegorically, breathe.
A promising first venture by this band, and it’ll be interesting to see if they manage to develop into a more well known entity over time. I understand that they have altered their line-up since the release of this initial EP, time will tell if that will have a positive effect on any future releases by them. Those with an interest in metal of the symphonic variety that doesn’t mind material of this general style that also incorporate the occasional progressive rock element might want to give this album a spin, and curious fans of progressive rock and metal are advised to check out the longer tracks Dystopian and Winter’s Hall.
My rating: 72/100
