Album Review: Noveria - Aequilibirum

I know I've talked about this before, but it still bothers me when I see a new 'progressive metal' album come along where every song is roughly five minutes long. I'm not saying you need to write side-long epics to be prog, but there is now an entire genre of bands that play rather conventional songs in rather conventional lengths, who I'm supposed to call prog for... reasons? I'm not entirely sure they've ever bothered to make an argument why. It might be an assumption that if you call yourself something, I'm supposed to follow suit, which doesn't make any sense to me. I don't mean to be a contrarian, but when he world makes no logical sense, I'm not jumping off the cliff simply because you tell me an umbrella will break my fall.

Noveria is among these bands, with their album labeled 'progressive power metal', despite the longest song clocking in at 6:34, and all of them falling within roughly a minute of each other. That doesn't make a first impression of "OMG, prog!"

Then again, the moniker 'progressive power metal' is one that has virtually never been earned. That term gets used for bands that fall in between the sound of prog metal and power metal, but aren't really either. They're sort of like musical peanuts; neither a pea nor a nut. That doesn't mean they can't be good, but it's an entire genre that shouldn't exist, at least not with this name.

"Waves" opens the album much like Evergrey did on one of their recent albums (sorry, they all blend together), with blast beats jarring the listener in the first seconds, followed by softer pianos, and then a more traditional song structure from there. It is a bit unusual to use the blast beat in this style, so they get half a point, but they lose a full point thereafter, since blast beats are terrible. Relentlessly hitting the snare as fast as you can, with no rhythm or groove, is as unmusically as you can play drums, and there's a reason very little music utilizes it as a common technique.

As the album moves along, we get a lot of intricate guitar playing and soaring choruses, which very much continues that Evergrey comparison. Noveria sounds very heavily inspired by them, down to the vocal timbre, which isn't as much a baritone, but has much of the same quality trying to make this technical music sound emotional. That's an awfully high bar to clear, and it's one that is seldom cleared. For whatever reason, the biggest gut-punches are delivered with simplicity, and that's not Noveria's thing.

There are moments when they try, and they reveal the fundamental flaw in how the record is constructed. In "Blind", the chorus is trying to be a standout emotional moment, but the song has to shift tone and tempo entirely as it moves both in and out of the chorus, to the point where it doesn't feel like it belongs with the rest of the song. The shift to get where they need to be is too jarring, and a shallow payoff trying to make up for the rest of the song. "The Nightmare" is more effective as an emotional vehicle, but that's because it's a ballad, and doesn't try to do too much, instrumentally. There's an inherent restraint that lets the band get there that the rest of the record is incapable of.

But let's also be clear; if you like this style of metal more than I do, Noveria does it well. I think it's trying way too hard, but plenty of people love it, and I'm not going to dissuade you from giving it a shot if you're one of them. There's a lot of great instrumental prowess, and some solid melodies. On a surface level, it's enjoyable stuff. My problems with it go to more theoretical levels, so casual listeners can probably disragard everything I've said before this paragraph.

There are several Evergrey clones out there, and while Noveria is not one of them, they do something similar, but better than almost all of them. Everygrey fans will get a lot out of Noveria. I'm a weirdo who's favorite Evergry album is "Torn" (actually, that's the only one I like), so my opinion here is outside the norm. All I would say is that if you're into this style, go back and listen to Ascendia's "The Lion And The Jester". That's 'prog' metal that actually clears the emotional bar.