Label : Prophecy Productions
Review by Luisa Mercier
Nucleus Torn is a Swiss alternative/metal band that has a lot of influences: from folk to ambient, to prog to post-rock. The present recors is a kind of prequel for the trilogy that the band has released in the previous years formed by the albums “Nihil”, “Knell” and “Andromeda Awaiting”. The main mastermind is Fredy Schnyder and around him there have been many musicians. The line-up has changed a lot in the years. On “Golden Age” Maria D’Alessandro and Anna Murphy from Eluveitie sing. The title-track is also the opener and is an elegant, classy 12-minute acoustic/prog/folk track in which just the piano, the flute, the strings and the acoustic guitars can be heard while female and clean male vocals duet in a melacholic dialogue. Really beautiful, though not an easy song to listen to. “Hunger” is another acoustic song in which Anna Murphy delivers once again a moving vocal performance especially when backed by strings and drums. The song becomes epic and in the end the folk feeling is very apparent. Patrick Schaad is behind the mic on “Silver” together with female vocals. His soothing, warm performance makes this prog track even more fascinating. Just piano and strings, til now there was no hint of rock or metal. Distorted guitars appear on “Against” but there is no violence or harshness, they are 100% prog, somehow this track remembered me a mix of old Opeth and new Opeth, the ones from “Heritage”. “Ash” finally has metal/rock riffs, after an acoustic intro. I would rather call them post-rock riffs which alternate with calm moments and true metal style, you can even hear a solo! Last song is “Death Triumphant”, another very long song which mixes metal, post-rock, folk, prog and even jazz! A real listening experience. “Golden Age” is a complex record, one you want to listen to in the right mind setting, otherwise the risk is that you might find it boring. To tell the truth it is very well crafted and it deserves more than one listening session.
Rating – 80/100
Tracklist
- Golden Age
- Hunger
- Silver
- Against
- Ash
- Death Triumphant
Line Up
- Maria D’Alessandro – Vocals
- Anna Murphy – Vocals
- Patrick Schaad – Vocals
- Christian Kolf – Throat
- Rebecca Hagmann – Cello
- Christine Schüpbach-Käser – Violin
- Anouk Hiedl – Flute
- Benedikt Reising – Saxophone
- Bernadette Guenot – Oboe
- Daniel Schläppi – Double Bass
- Fredy Schnyder – Keyboard, Bass, Guitar, Mandolin, Bagpipes, Organ, Dulcimer & Bouzouki
- Christoph Steiner – Drums & Percussiom
Links