The Parallax is a four-piece progressive death metal band from Mississauga, Ontario. The ‘Obliquity of the Ecliptic’ is the debut full-length album, featuring 5 lengthy melodic tracks including the 23-minute song ‘The Reformatting’. The Parallax has had the opportunity to share the stage with Protest the Hero, The Agonist, and Intervals among many others.
“Obliquity of the Ecliptic” is a brilliant combination of technical proficiency and raw, straightforward, great songwriting. Extreme metal albums often suffer from having most of their songs centered on a similar theme. The result is a repetitive album that loses the interest of the listener. This album blows this convention away. There is a track here for any kind of metal music fan: the pounding power of “Summon the Tides” and “Seventeen”, the complex layers of the title track and the 23-minute long “The Reformatting”, plus the sinister grinding and churning of “The Wicked Shadows” makes sure the album stays fresh and never wilts.
Sorin Simion and the excellent Antonio Moriera provide The Parallax’s firestorm guitars in full force. The riffs are creative and powerful: you can almost smell the brimstone in each six-string assault. The two also provide an interesting contrast in their styles of lead guitar and soloing. Derek Joson’s drumming ability is nothing short of impeccable and together with Sean Deshenes precision bass they carry every track with relentless but artful percussion.
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Perhaps the best part of all is the voice of the mighty Moriera. His guttural roar here is matchless. Apart from being demonic and powerful, but easily understood at the same time, he also sings quite a few passages. Death metal vocals often just blend in with the music, their meaning inaudible, and their impact weak. In “Obliquity of the Ecliptic”, Moriera gives the voice a power of command above the music, and he lifts the whole album to inspiring triumph. His vocals have a surprising amount of variety and suit the music very well.
Here The Parallax create an undeniable statement of Death metal for all of the world to see. Many flag the death metal genre as one with endless carbon copies and talentless musicians just pounding away at their instruments. Those people have never heard this. The guitars create blistering solos, heavy riffs, and some great music between the ear crushing songs on this album. It should not be missed, if not for its great musicianship, then for its creativity.
“Obliquity of the Ecliptic”, represents a high water mark for The Parallax and is an indispensable piece in any true heavy music collection. This album is worthy of multiple listenings and never loses its luster!
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