Customer Reviews

Complications: Trilogy of Intricacy Ep

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With a lineup that features members of Borknagar, Winds, and Mayhem (they've got Hellhammer!), Age of Silence seems at first glance like a black metal supergroup. Instead, the band serves up some truly innovative and intricate (hence this EP's title) progressive metal. Who knew these corpse-painted blasphemers had it in them? I guess I shouldn't be all that surprised after hearing projects like Green Carnation and Winds.

The 2005 EP Complications: a Trilogy of Intricacy is the band's follow up to their well received debut album Acceleration, and finds the band further defining their progressive metal sound. It's on par with Winds' material, or perhaps a less aggressive Borknagar. It's still undeniably a metal album, but it's far more progressive than aggressive. And when I say progressive, I don't mean Dream Theater or Vanden Plas. I'm thinking more on the lines of a metallic King Crimson here.

At just 16 minutes, Complications really doesn't give us much more than a taste of things to come, but if these three songs are any indication, Age of Silence's next full length album should be impressive. Hopefully we'll see it some time this decade.

Age of Silence is a Norwegian project group, consisting of more or less famous musicians from different black metal bands. "Complications" is an EP released in 2005, to satisfy fans awaiting their second full length album.

Musically the band members background from (modern) black metal isn't very noticeable. Although several details and nuances in the soundscape are recognizable from this genre of music - synths barely heard fleshing out the soundscape, slight nuances when changing tempo, melodic overlays from guitars tuned way down to create a very subtle effect - the music on this record has more similarities with doom metal than with black metal.
The guitars are the main instrument here, but played mostly with long, drawn-out chords rather than the fast-paced aggressive riffing you'll find in black metal. The second most noticeable element here are the vocals, actual singing with clean vocals, most often harmonic and at times layered vocals as well.
The overall soundscape is dark and gritty though, with the vocals bringing light and beauty into a rather grim and dark - but epic - soundscape.

As for the songs on this release, they are all good - especially if nuances and details are to your liking. The songs are too monotonous and repetitive though; at least for me. The first and last of these three songs have most variation, and due to that are better than the one in the middle for me.