Originally written by Ramar Pittance
Over the past year, almost imperceptibly, I’ve become pretty conversant in the area of German metal-core. However, I’m still not able to decide just how I feel about that whole scene. Fear My Thoughts are arguably responsible for the two most artistic genre-pushing melodic metalcore albums to date and Heaven Shall Burn have earned points on sheer ferocity alone. The Krauts are also responsible for producing feeble also-rans such as Maroon and Caliban. Neaera fall somewhere in between, drawing influence from most of their peers making for a solid but largely forgettable album.
There’s a consistency on display on this album that is simultaneously gratifying and vexing. With the exception of a short instrumental, each song on this album is composed of brisk melodic thrash interspersed with chugging mid section breaks. It’s been done to death, but Neaera pull from a database of riffs I’ve definitely heard before and definitely remember liking. “Where Submission Reigns” does a great job of reminding me of Hamartia with its spry pacing and deftly interwoven leads and “Hibernating Reason” displays a keen interplay between rugged breakdowns and melodic tremolo picking similar to As I Lay Dying. With all the comfortable familiarity Neaera offers, I can’t say that I’m particularly averse to anything on this album. In fact, The Rising Tide of Oblivion is thoroughly not bad; decent even.
Unfortunately it’s also completely devoid of forethought and mired in cliche, which will likely narrow its appeal down to myself and maybe Erik Thomas. Do you dig this Erik? And I’m sure even we’ll be back to listening to all the bands that Neaera reminds us of within a few days.
In sum, these guys are pretty talented. The riffing is agile and the performances are as tight as you could want them to be, almost to the point of lifelessness. Same goes for the production. I’m not really sure where they can go with their sound, as The Rising Tide of Oblivion basically represents the mastery of a very restrictive genre. You could do a lot worse for metalcore, but you could do a lot better for metal.
