Splenetic

This album does a lot of things right that other progressive death metal albums do wrong- namely the fact that it's under 35 minutes long. It's amazing how much a difference this makes to the replayability of the album; instead of a turgid hour-long brick of noodling, you get a much more concise, compact work which makes a much bigger impression on you as a result. The other thing Neglected Fields does right is putting the 'progressive' after the 'death metal' in their general priorities. A lot of progressive death metal bands sound like Dream Theater nerds who want to sound tough- Neglected Fields sounds like a group of guys who want to make ostentatious, over-the-top extreme metal, and, again, it's much more affecting as a result. Instead of a stark, tedious block of unbearable, uninteresting meandering, 'Splenetic' is about as immediate and straightforward a progressive death album as I've heard- and naturally, one of the best because of it.

Another thing it does right: any sort of metal with a progressive edge has a really bad habit of using obnoxious, bleeping, one chord riffs that sound like they come out of a Rush song or something- 'Splenetic' has none of that annoying riffing, overly funk-centered drumming, or stupid, fragmented melodic sense. Well, that's not entirely true: closer 'Khert Neter' employs all of those elements in a truly bizarre departure from the rest of the album's enjoyable, definitely death metal style, but it's just one track of nine so I won't complain too much about it. The rest of the material is a massive improvement on the progressive death metal paradigm. 'Splenetic''s core is most obviously based off Gothenburg melodeath stripped of much of its traditional origins and pushed into more complicated, chaotic rhythmic structures. The music on this album is explosive, daring, and intense, but when you peel back the layers of bombast and technical mastery, you'll find very straightforward, solid melodic death metal songs underneath. Unlike other progressive death metal which sounds like prog rock with growls, 'Splenetic' sounds like death metal with crazy rhythms, interesting keyboards, and cool song structures- exactly what it should be.

Which is not to say that there isn't a progressive rock influence here. There definitely is, but instead of the usual Pink Floyd or Yes or other streamlined, more relaxed prog rock that many prog death bands take from, Neglected Fields takes more influence from the more intense, overflowing compositions of bands like Jethro Tull and Focus. And why wouldn't they? I've always thought the preoccupation with more relaxed, gentle prog rock by death metal bands was rather confusing when the alternative works so much better when fused with death metal. You can hear that influence all over these songs: strong, bombastic compositions, sudden and exciting changes in dynamics and rhythm, but still a willingness to settle into a strong groove and melody. In addition, in the vein of those artists, Neglected Fields' music feels more thoroughly composed than many bands from the same stylistic niche- there's always fascinating instrumental interplay going on.

As for those instruments, all are uniformly solid, and despite their prog leanings, never descend into flashy displays of virtuosity without good reason. The guitars for the most part stick with solid, catchy, engaging riffs, only occasionally bleeding into pure prog territory (mainly relegated to the thankfully few but solid in their own right instrumental tracks.) The bass has a wonderfully creaking, rubbery tone ala Spite Extreme Wing, and as expected, provides a subtle but welcome layer of counterpoint melody to the guitars. The primary competitor with the strings, though, are the omnipresent keyboards, which are wonderfully mixed: loud enough to be heard but not enough to overwhelm the more overtly metallic instruments. They're a good combination of subtle backing and more aggressive, occasionally leading instrument, very much composed in the same manner as early Sear Bliss. Hell, even the vocals, typically the weak point for bands like these, are extremely well done, eschewing a simple growl in favor of a more gnawing, foam-mouthed mid-high snarl, which adds a welcome bit of savagery to the rather clean, precise music on display.

There's not much I could ask of this album- well, maybe chopping off the last track- and it goes without saying that progressive death metal fans should absolutely check this out. Then again, maybe they don't- prog death people tend to like really bad music for the most part, so I don't think an album as good as 'Splenetic' would be completely up their alley. Still, if you're interested in legitimately progressive metal, not just 'prog' more interested in impressing the listener than taking them on a journey, you'll find plenty to love on this disc.

After listening to this whole album, I couldn't accept that this band, Neglected Fields, is a band that has zero impact and has zero influence in the name of progressive death metal.

Neglected Fields (in this album I can say) bring a really coherent and interesting mix between highly technical and complex riffs on a side, and cool atmospheric parts on the other side. The riffs are really fast on some songs, like on "The Spectator" or "Of Snakes", and then those riffs come down to keyboard arrangements or slow melodic riffs, and the way this all comes coherent brings this album a little something that makes it so great.

The vocals are sounding pretty much like black metal vocals, as much people say about this band. The volume of the vocals are a little much too much higher than the rest of the music, and this is something that lowers a little bit my final mark for the album. But as the main singer "sings", we can sometime hear the second guitarist pushing growls around, which adds a little brutality if I can say to the album. For instance, on "Teufelswerk", the singer and the guitarist are screaming together through the song, and it actually sounds real great.

At first, when I saw the profile of this band and I noticed that there was a keyboardist here, I told myself "oh shit, another lame melodic/power metal band" but the keyboards, actually, are not really prominent. They perfectly fit into the music, sometime giving atmosphere to the riffs, sometime introducing or concluding the songs.

The production is also pretty good, and the way the instruments sound is really great. It is the kind of album that you can hear the bass enough well (not like Decapitated's album Organic Hallucinosis or Deicide's Stench of Redemption, which are both recent albums in which the guitar is too prominent on the bass).

I hardly recommend to any fan of progressive death metal, or even progressive metal, as most of the songs are relatively accessible to these persons (still some of the songs could definitely be classed as "technical death metal"). Death metal fans could also appreciate this stuff, like I did. I was a pure death metal fan and I was thinking I won't be able to find any interests in this album, but the way the highly technical aspect is mixed with progressive atmosphere gives this album an irresistible charm to it.

The best tracks are surely "The Spectator", "Teufelswerk", "The Cosm, The Vacuum, The Wave" and "Khert Neter".

Neglected Fields is a Latvian band that has been churning quality technical death metal for over 10 years. With their two previous releases they gained a decent following in their home country and abroad, with their original amalgam of technical riffs, atmospheric keyboards and blackish vocals. “Splentic” largely follows in the footsteps of these releases, namely “Synthinity” and “Mephisto Lettonica”.

One marked change from their older material is the polished sound, thanks to TT Oksala who has also produced albums by mainstream heavyweights such as Apocalyptica and HIM. This doesn’t harm the cd in the least. Guitars are omnipresent and thunderous, but not distorted to the point where you can’t hear the other instruments. The bass is clearly audible as is the double bass drum. Keyboards mostly serve as a background, there are no technical showcases to be found here, even though there are some beautiful piano interludes. In fact this is what separates Neglected Fields from your average tech. death; a wide variety of patches is used, lots of synth sounds, hammond organ, strings, choir, piano, industrial sounds, etc., giving the whole album sonic variety.

The riffs themselves are excellent, though perhaps not immediately accessible. After the fitting intro, we are treated to a fast syncopated rhythm marked by staccato chords. Throughout the rest of the album there are slower groove based riffs, as well as fast technical ones. The whole album makes a very cold post-apocalyptic impression, there is no space here for power ballads of the lamest kind. The short running time (34+ min.), is just about the only drawback here, but you can always push play again after it finishes.

Highlights: “The Spectator”, “Teufelswerk”, “The Cosm, The Vacuum, The Wave”, "Khert Neter".