Y3K
Retribution
6.8
Synopsis:
Another surprisingly solid metal offering from Spain.
Review:
Spain is known for a lot of things (many I can speak of personally as I lived there for part of my life) - fine sherry and fine asses being a few of them, but fine metal isn’t necessarily on top of that list. However, of late, solid releases from the likes of Sound of Silence and the excellent Vidres a la Sang have shown Spain as having some potential in metal, and the oddly named Y3K show that Spain can do symphonic black metal pretty damn well also.
Bearing a sweet Samurai on the cover, Retribution has obvious nods to the likes of Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir (notably “Eternity in the Chalice”) and other heavily sythn’d bands like Arthemesia, Anorexia Nervosa and Stormlord as far as synth drenched black metal, but Y3K manage to inject enough of their own character and flair to the proceedings to make them just a bit different. The smattering of some ICS Vortex-ish clean croons amid the rasps and some well placed female vocals (“The Creeping Chaos”, “Eihwas, Raised to the Sky”, “A Land Unknown For All”), some off kilter classical orchestration (“Doma Arigata Gozai Mahita”) and the occasional attention getting riff (“The Four Arms of Astaroth”) give the album just a shred of creativity within the framework of symphonic black metal to make it a viable listen in a genre packed with clones.
The highlight of the album is the almost eight minute closer, “First Shall be Five” with its almost Summoning-like opening moments and epic mid paced majesty. It shows the band has promise for future efforts in a genre that’s in dire need of a injection of freshness and energy. The only thing I would like to have heard was maybe a more ethnic injection to the sound a la early Moonspell-Flemenco inspired symphonic black metal? Sign me up.
In all, despite the familiar sound of Y3K, the end result is a surprisingly good stab at the genre. It’s got a solid production, decent songs with enough going on to stick with you and the potential to do a lot more. I look forward to hearing more.
Now-about that moniker…
