Age Of Silence "Complications: Trilogy Of Intricacy" CD

Norwegian Avant-garde Progressive melodic Metal with Hellhammer of Mayhem on the drums with members of Tulus, Winds, Khold, Funeral, Borknagar, Carpathian Forest, Solefald, Madder Mortem...

Following up the excellent album Acceleration, Age of Silence released this shopping mall-laden EP consisting of three songs. As previously hinted at, this trilogy is following the story of the evils of shopping malls, money hungry C.E.O.'s, and desperate customers, a theme which is quite original (yet similar to the one of Acceleration), to say the least. The production here is much the same as Acceleration; crisp and clean, with every instrument well heard.
The vocal work here is very much the same as Acceleration. Lars is a superb vocalist, and actually quite soothing. As in Acceleration, there are many overlapped vocal parts in the songs, where Lars will be singing one thing and in the background we hear vocals saying other things over his. Sometimes it sounds awesome, but other times it can get just a tad bit annoying.
The guitar riffs have gotten a lot more sinister in this release. While still being thrashy and melodic, they just have a more evil tone to them. There is a mini-solo in the first song, but other than that the EP is void of them. Also, much like Acceleration, the bass is in the mix but isn't quite audible, mostly following the guitar riffs.
The one amazing highlight from the previous release is the keyboards, and they're here but without any of the solos! To be honest, I was very surprised when it occurred to me after sixteen minutes of listening that I didn't hear any of the grand piano-sounding melodies; rather it is more of a Dark Tranquillity-esque keyboard sound and is in the background instead of out front, which is a downside.
Overall, this is a great release, albeit a short one. If you've heard Acceleration then I highly suggest you pick it up; if you haven't, then I still suggest you pick it up! My only wish is that it would be longer than 16 minutes.

Sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...