Creations from a Chosen Path

Once again, I find myself listening to another progressive metal band having neglected the genre for several years. Strange how I made the transition from not listening to progressive rock or metal of any kind to continuously listening to it. Sign of maturity? The general consensus seems to be that as one gets older, one begins to mellow out in terms of what they listen to. Having said that, I wouldn’t particularly call progressive rock or metal mellow, certainly not Silent Call’s 2008 debut, ‘Creations From A Chosen Path’. I suppose the appeal of progressive metal of late is the level of experimentation and intensity of the music. Whilst black metal, the genre I tend to listen to most, can and does incorporate both experimentation and intensity into its soundscapes, progressive metal is perhaps more well known and better established at doing so. Its like marriage, black metal is merely in the honeymoon period of experimenting and is testing the waters to see what makes sense, whilst progressive is a dab hand at handling the essence of experimentation.

‘Creations From A Chosen Path’ is, as stated, the debut from this Swedish act and is seductive in its hardened approach which gives an indication of high levels of professionalism and maturity, which is strange for a debut. ‘Creations From A Chosen Path’ begins and continues to flow like a heavy heart of emotions, sucking the listener into its seductive cesspool of chaotic experimentation. The instrumentation is complex in an atmospheric sense, and also in a song writing sense, introducing the listener to electric-acoustics, alluring bass and attractive soundscapes that like to place a high influence on all instruments taking part on the record. The drumming isn’t particularly important to the record, but does enough to justify the high rating of this record. Although I wouldn’t consider any one aspect to be more important to Silent Call, one must point out the pivotal vocals, which utilises a clean sense of sorrow with an undertone of hope for better things to come.

Even from the song titles such as; ‘Outcast’ and ‘I Believe In Me’ one can sense hope and inspiration flowing through the words of just the titles into the songs themselves. There is a sense that Silent Call place a significance on expressing several differing emotional soundscapes. From the sadness and sorrowful tones of the vocals shown in songs like ‘Outcast’, which are intricate in their display of the detrimental forces that inspired the lyrics against the backdrop of the luscious atmospherics (this is an assumption as I have not read the lyrics, but from what I can hear and sense in the songs themselves), alongside the keyboards, which display a maturity in musicianship that bands usually struggle with on their first display. These elements compliment the upbeat aspects well, which are usually displayed in the guitars and symphonic styling (contributed to by the brilliant use of keyboards which contain some electronica based influences, shown on songs like ‘Divided’, but only briefly).

Of all the progressive metal bands I’ve come across, Silent Call’s Andi Kravljaca is probably one of the best I’ve heard, alongside Vivien Lalu probably. Then again, my opinion is limited. His display is important to the record and this must be seen as one of the strongest highlights considering how often vocal displays become overshadowed by the instrumentation and limited song writing. Fortunately, this isn’t the case with Sweden’s Silent Call who excel in these areas, as well as others. The creativity, diversity and multi-dimensional values of this record help it draw on ecstatic and euphoric emotions with the listener who is taken on a spiritual journey, reflecting over the vocals and their content, as well as the interpretation that the instrumentation lays down on stunning songs like ‘I Come Undone’, which displays those clean vocals fantastically, as well as demonstrating the power of bass upon the soundscapes (it truly is dominant on this record). The production is tight and underlines the talent of the bands musicians as it portrays their instrumentation in a clear and concise sound, which is straight to the point with no nonsense thrills.

I’ve not heard the demo entitled ‘Divided’, but the transformation from the early days as the band were just coming together to this mature masterpiece must have been phenomenal. I suppose, as a fan of long songs and not usually a regular listener of progressive anything, I should get used to the genres obsession with short songs and fast paced tales of fantasy, nostalgia and regret. The soundscapes make this debut a must have for progressive fans. Glittering guitars, a bass that penetrates the listeners mind with emotiveness and keyboards that provide a selection of stunning moments, both electronic and symphonic based, as well as producing sparse piano sections to delight the fan of a more traditional style. The vocalist is also worth looking out for, very strong voice and provides an interesting insight to the lyrics with his wide ranging voice. Silent Call’s debut is perhaps one of the best progressive metal records of 2008.