PARIUS - The Signal Heard Throughout Space

PARIUS

Album: The Signal Heard Throughout Space

Genre: Progmetal

Release Date: October 7th, 2022

Country: USA

Label: Willowtip Records

Band Links: BANDCAMP / INSTAGRAM / FACEBOOK

Space travelling is a popular topic in prog, as the possibilities for good stories are endless, offering a wide field for musical creativity. On their fourth album, which will be out on October 7th, 2022 via Willowtip Records, Philadelphia-based quintet PARIUS welcomed drummer Dan Silver and keyboardist Sean Gallagher aboard. They tell a conceptual rock opera about a space captain who hears a distress signal, whether real or in a dream, and sets out to find its source. “The Signal Heard Throughout Space” chronicles the protagonist's search, but also sees him struggling with self-doubts while trying to accomplish his goals, hopelessly compelled to complete his mission.

“Spacelog.0245” works like an overture to set the right mood for the following adventures, growing tension towards the appearance of “The Signal”. This comes along with a challenging rhythmic and impressive bass-lines, whose hard-hitting, dry tone will become characterizing during most of the tracks. Guitar and keyboards build a solid basis with atmospheric soundscapes, as well as heavy yet beautiful riffs and melody lines. The vocals are mostly clean and often multi-layered, telling the story in a marvelous way.

“Suspended Animation” is a quiet, thoughtful piece, just played with piano and a wonderful vocal performance carrying the listener through it. The following “Spaceflight Dementia” gets me every time with its great harmonies and complex rhythms. There’s a lot going on in PARIUS’ music, reminding me a bit of Luna’s Call melted with Haken and a good pinch of Obsidian Tide – Epic!

During “The Acid Lakes of Ganymede” our hero crash landed, feeling hopeless because he thinks his trip came to an unfinished end. This moment is also captured in the stellar cover artwork and of course in the music. But the journey continues, expressed through PARIUS’ overwhelming creativity. "Contact!" is some fun musically (probably could be called death metal rock'n roll?), but not for the captain ;-) since he sees himself being chased by an alien biker gang.

After this, things get chilled in "Dimension Y" with some funky vibes. "The Outer Limit" might be the most experimental track, coming along gloomy, dissonant, and with powerful growls, alternating with calmer parts, and the outro leading us to the great finale. During the 13 minutes “Arecibo”, they’re firing once more on all creative cylinders, bringing the journey to a wonderful end.

By melting the wide range from progrock to death metal, PARIUS clearly deliver one of this year’s most exciting prog records for me, offering a consistent concept visual-, story- and music-wise. The compositions are flawless, skillfully performed, and well produced, which makes “The Signal Heard Throughout Space” a real listening pleasure in its entirety, and it doesn't stop growing even after countless spin.

Take a seat and enjoy the ride… \m/

Written by Katha