It must be an age thing but it seems a lot more than 9 years ago that The Fifth Alliance released the mesmerising post-metal laden Death Poems to underground critical acclaim. Many things have changed since then including the make up and sounds of the Netherlands five piece. As well as a change in vocalist and a more power forward mix of clean vocals the tonality and post-leanings are replaced with a more progressive metal sound. Whilst that could be disappointing to fans of old, Stenahoria shows a band moving forward and progressing into quite a promising space.
The band flies through the five long form tracks here in 37 minutes even though they each stretch past 7 minutes and opener that is one of the real grabbing points of the album. Thundering into a post-black maelstrom of blasting drums and soaring tremolo guitar flexes ‘Phoenix’ rises in an Oathbreaker type manner. When the song breaks down the vocals change from screaming to clean singing. It’s here the movement in style begins to show itself. ‘Benandanti’ has rings of the tones of Earthtone9 and Urzah but it ultimately explodes like later phases of the career of Harakiri to the Sky.
The clean vocals lead the way in the final three songs but there are also plenty of moments of heavier screaming. The guitar works well with the vocals in both forms with its clean tones but also a heavier rendering when needing to elevate through the pounding drums. Closer ‘Jakob’ is equal to the opener in its dynamic range as it builds and falls and soars through some incredible moments. The metal that is played here isn’t simple and the mix of doom atmospherics, blackened blasts and progressive guitar work is salivatingly good.
With a varied approach to the screaming and guitar tones The Fifth Alliance have certainly opened themselves to a larger audience given the niche of post-metal in comparison to the popularity of more progressive and mainstream metal. The tracks here are engaging and energetic and it will be very interesting to see the response and if the band can gain momentum to progress in size as the quality deserves.
