MAYAN - Antagonize

Having creating some havoc with their debut release back in 2011, the Dutch Death Metal crew is back with an album that will try to raise the standards of their music to a new level. The band continues the same high quality mixture of Death Metal and Symphonic Power Metal orchestrations, with some improvements and additions. First of all, the music is moving on the same top class level, complex and intriguing, constantly changing forms and shapes, but always interesting and groovy. Songs are well written, and have no less good moments, and although sharing some common elements, each one has it's own form and entity. There are moments where things are getting more aggressive, others that the band is moving on more Power Metal or Orchestral forms, with the growling vocals dominating the whole album, and adding a touch of roughness when the music needs to, or enhancing the brutality even more. What makes this album different from their previous is the addition of a soprano singer, whose voice is so eerie and fitting with the music, that sometimes makes you wanna hear the same part over and over. Musicwise the band is moving very close to perfection as well. With a diversity in arrangements as in this album, there's plenty of opportunities for each musician to give his trademark in the music. There are tons of brilliant guitar riffs, moments where the blastbeats show the performing skills of the drummer, or moments like the closing 8 minute opus where the keyboards add a magnificent atmosphere. Add to all these the perfect contradiction between clear and grunt singing and you get the picture. Another interesting point is the concept of the album, which deals with the current situation where values of our society are under attack in the name of Freedom and Democracy. Not an easy album although it has it's catchy moments. It needs cautious listening, mostly because there's more than meets the eye. And this is the beauty of it.