Votum

Metafiction

Armoury Records 2010

Atmospheric Polish prog drifts softly out of my speakers on the new album from Votum.  Not really knowing what to expect, I was pleasantly surprised to find a mix of modern Katatonia and Empire era Queensryche.  Though it starts off with some meaty riffs, Glassy Essence shifts lightly into tranquil guitarwork and some excellent guitar solos, accented by the occasional synth passage.  Home, dances within a soft and delicate web of guitar with animated drums and yearning vocals that deliver lines in a manner that reminds me of Geoff Tate despite not quite possessing his range.  Shimmering and sparse strums and a stark yet heartfelt voice pierce the darkness as Faces opens.  A calm keyboard adds a little melodrama to composition.  Glittering electronica skitters across the top of fat chugging riffs on the muscular Stranger Than Fiction until it collapses into soaring vocals and flowing guitars.  Deathly vocals rasp as sharp spikes of synth collide with a thick bouncy riff for the album's loudest and most intense moments.  As powerful as as Stranger Than Fiction was, Indifferent begins as its polar opposite, an exercise in minimalist layering; soft guitar, subtle keys, and dreamy vocals.  Then lumbering Katatonia-esque riffs rise like megaliths across a nocturnal landscape.  Continuing to pulse with Katatonia-isms, December 20th tells a somber story set against a back drop of barren and cold keyboards and crushing guitars.  That is until a fittingly bizarre and borderline dance/electronica section of the song crackles to life.  The song gathers momentum and drama, before dropping into a jazzy passage towards the 4 minute mark.  The song continues its twisting metamorphosis until surging into operatic vocals and goth metal riffs.  Metafiction creates a mood of sleepy nocturnal emotions.  It holds a musical texture lit by soft fluorescent rays and caged in by shadowed corners.  Sometimes this lethargic tranquility can make the album drag and the songs blend into one long track as the mood and pacing remain unhurried.  But overall, Metafiction is as bold as it is soft-spoken.