Label: Prog Metal Rock Promotion
Date: March 8th, 2021
Equation!? Oh, please no! I’ve escaped into music so that I don’t have to equate anything anymore. I thought I left mathematics behind until a bunch of Mexicans thought it would be a good idea to bring it back into my life.
Luckily enough, I don’t have a task to grade a math test. Though grading a Mexican progressive metal band is no easier endeavor. I’m not sure, but this might be my first encounter with Mexican music that is not extreme in any form. Even if there are traces of the extremes here. These are subtle and few, scattered all across this forty four minutes long album. But I’m getting ahead of myself here.
The Advent Equation of a four-piece out of Monterrey with a decade of existence behind them. “Remnants of Oblivion” is their second outing which was in the making for the better part of eight years. Adding to the equation (pun very much intended) that they are a progressive metal band, one can already form an assumption that the record is teeming with all sorts of details. People who avoid the whole genre for that particular reason can basically skip reading here and now. However, I would like to invite you to check out the first single off the album, “Patterns of Spiraling Reality”. It’s quite catchy for a progressive song. It’s quite catchy for a song that clocks just over six minutes.
Other than this catchy moment (and a few more here and there), there are a couple more points of reference on “Remnants of Oblivion”. Like the mentioned extremes, for example. Death metal, to be exact. And not the melodic kind one can expect with the progressive band. The segment in the title track is very heavy. It is very primeval, old school and… Doomy. Reminiscent of mid era Opeth, prior to the Swedes’ complete slip into the mellow waters. Doom metal, while I’m at it, plays a significant role throughout the album, bringing a melancholic note to the release. Combination of the somber, melancholic undertones and the overly aggressive progressive metal is the key to digesting “Remnants of Oblivion”.
Tying this mixture together is a concept behind this record. A rather philosophical take on the cycles of ignition and extinction that can be observed macrocosmically or within a microcosm of our own existence on this planet. To my understanding, The Advent Equation points to consequences of millions of coincidences as igniting forces of existence as well as extinction, all the while seeking for an answer to questions of control we have of our actions and surroundings in the light of those coincidences affecting us. One of the focal points of “Remnants of Oblivion” is also our (mis)understanding of the phenomenon that got us to where we are and the answers we give to the same question, whether they be theological, scientific or simply psychological.
Food for thought, absolutely, even if The Advent Equation asks more questions than it offers answers.
Anyway, Mexicans check out all the blocks for progressive aficionados. Dream Theater fans, Pink Floyd fans, Opeth / Katatonia / Tiamat fans… None should be disappointed. Musically, lyrically or visually because “Remnants of Oblivion” is very artistically appealing. The one “X” left undisclosed in this advent equation is whether the album will stand the test of time and leave a footprint among its ancestors. Then, and only then, will the true worth of it be confirmed.
