Album of the Month: Under the Shadow of a Foreign Sun - Piah Mater
For Piah Mater the Opeth comparisons are immediate and inevitable. But it’s all too easy to miss the forest for the trees with this band. All too easy to write them off, given how exceptionally easy a target for comparison they are. But to me this may be the best metal album in years, and there's a reason for that. There really is a certain je ne sais quoi, a "line in the sand" that vanishingly few albums manage to cross. But Under the Shadow of a Foreign Sun clears it easily. The album's exciting, heart-wrenching, and at all times engaging. Piah Mater really figured out what made late ‘90s-00’s Opeth so special for so many people. They managed not to recreate it, but to iterate upon it.
Foreign Sun covers a lot of ground over its runtime: saxophone solos, Brazilian folk music, anthemic choruses, and slick riffs. While Piah Mater's previous albums certainly weren't lacking in sonic variety, Foreign Sun brings it to another level. Its intros are haunting, its cleans are vibrant and powerful, and its harsh vocals are visceral but measured. The album primarily deals in themes of tyranny, waywardness, and entrapment. This being most apparent on “Fallow Garden”, where the tom-heavy drumming serves to complement the riffage, and on “In Fringes” whose turgid riffs allow the clean vocals to soar.
Under the Shadow of a Foreign Sun is a modern classic by all measures. It's mix of melody, intricate playing, and bleak songwriting is nothing but engrossing. If you enjoy music in the realm of dark, aggressive prog then you absolutely must give Piah Mater a shot, even if they don't stray too far from their influences.
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