Before getting Metafiction, I had never heard anything from Votum. It didn’t take a genius to at least have a starting base to knowing what I was getting myself into though, since their last label was called ProgRock Records. Now they’ve signed with Armoury records though and have created something completely gorgeous.
Gorgeous isn’t a word associated with metal that often, especially outside of the female fronted epic power metal genre. I think the last time I’ve thought of using that word to describe a metal record was back in 2003 when Opeth released their mellow-acoustic-prog-rock-disc, Damnation. And of course by damn, Metafiction reminds me of that record completely.
I point out Damnation because Votum is a bit lighter than the normal progressive death metal that Opeth releases. They have moments of rocking out and growling, but for the most part they play melodic metal riffs with clean male vocals. And the Opeth comparison is inevitable when you hear beautiful tracks like, ”Glassy Essence” and especially ”Indifferent” which absolutely follows the same general structure Opeth uses for most tracks.
There are a couple tracks that push past the nine minute mark and both of them warrant that length as the passages get the needed time to develop. But with a few shorter tracks mixed in and only seven on the disc, it’s certainly a bit of a quick listen. I’ve listened to the record a few times now and tracks 5-7 blend together a bit. That makes the disc move rapidly, but leaves me feeling that I need and want a lot more. Wanting more is better than wanting to get rid of it though. And now I’m looking forward to the next album already!
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