Persefone
Truth Inside the Shades
6
So I'm sitting here, thinking to myself, "Hey, a band called Persefone. I bet that really sucks." Realizing it was only six tracks, I figured no matter how bad it is, at least it'd be a short period of suffering for me. Sadly for me, I wasn't taking into consideration one of the key factors in metal music - the fact that there's even metal albums which are just one track and end up being 50 minutes long. It seems Persefone pulled a jack-move on me. Six songs, 44 minutes.
Persefone have a really unique approach to metal. From what it sounds like, each member of the band writes a part, jots it down, and throws it in a hat. Then they draw to determine what part comes next. Such problematic decision making tactics are only equalled in the problematic sound it creates. The music overall, is a really progressive and overly-melodic style of black/death metal, maybe a little like Abyssos gone mad, but don't quote me on that.
Persefone are an amorphous blob of highly adaptable bullshit with Cradle of Filth vocals. If Persefone was a supervillian, they'd be the Chameleon from the Spider Man comics. Their heavily used keyboards really fucking sound like they belong in a European disco. Lot of love goes out to Persefone for having the poor musical ear to include these amazing synths, because I adore bad keyboards. Maybe not for the right reason, though. I feel embarrassed for the band, as they have a lot of talent for writing riffs, but really obnoxious production and next to zero songwriting ability. They're totally capable of writing the parts that they write, but Persefone has very little direction. To paraphrase numerous high school teachers, they just need to apply themselves. There's absolutely no consistency on tracks like "The Whisper of Men" - it goes from aggressive poppy black metal, to viking metal without any sort of bridge or appropriate transition. It just switches and sounds really bad. But not as bad as those fucking awesome keyboards! Then, on the title track, it goes into an Edge of Sanity-esque dark disco for a little bit. Other times, it's an Opeth rip-off. The guitarwork throughout the record is great, so I guess if you'd like to hear somebody's solo guitar album meshed with some of the tamest and boisterous black/death metal, Persefone's Truth Inside the Shades will do you no wrong. And the keyboards sound like the awesome Disney Ticker Tape Parade.
This shit is in one ear and out the other, maybe taking a bit of brain matter with it. They simply try to do too much and sort of fall flat with it. They need to narrow down their interests and influences and just go with something. It's just fucking ridiculous as it is, although slightly impressive, as at times the band does approach and exhibit signs of greatness. There's no doubt in my mind though, that a lot of people are going to really love this.
