Paralydium - Universe Calls

Angry Metal Guy 60

Prog was my metal gateway drug, and I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for its bonkers, over-the-top ways. It’s pretty hard to find this genre unclaimed since Dolph got that laser-targeting system for his half-birthday, so I waited until he jumped a few time zones and then snagged the first thing I could find. Perplexing cover art aside, Sweden’s Paralydium have been peddling their brand of finger-flying theatrics since 2015, but with only an EP and 2020 debut Worlds Beyond under their belt, they’re still young in their recorded career. It’s prog week for Iceberg, and I want gratuitous solos, 64th-note unisons, and multi-movement songs injected straight into my cerebellum. Can Universe Calls deliver the goods?

Universe Calls is first and foremost a symphonic prog album, and a pretty traditional one at that. None of that blackened bombast or quirky genre-blending; this is meat-and-taters progressive metal. Think Kamelot, Dream Theater and Symphony X. Although no one person is credited with orchestrations, the synth orchestral hits and swells are the sixth band member, and their interplay with the full band is a central component of Paralydium’s sound. Georg Egg delivers intricate drum parts peppered with syncopated, athletic fills. Jonathan Olsson’s bass is wonderfully highlighted, snappy and clear when it leads, and rumbling when it supports. Alexander Lycke’s admirable performance reminds me of a pre-growls Russell Allen, but the stars of the show here are John Berg (guitars) and Mike Blanc (keyboards). Their dueling solos and lengthy, harmonized unison riffs anchor the rest of the band, cementing Universe Calls as prog metal from beginning to end.

If you liked Symphony X’s run from their self-titled to The Odyssey, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better doppelgänger than Universe Calls. This is a double-edged sword, however, since the line between emulation and plagiarism runs mighty thin. But the positives first. There’s a lot of musical material packed into Universe Calls; the majority of it compelling, and all of it well-performed. Along with the typically propulsive verses and sweeping choruses, the Berg/Blanc duo deploy ambient acoustic passages to great effect (“The Arcane Exploration Part I,” “Interlude”). The band doesn’t bare their teeth very often, but the opening riff of “Caught In a Dream” and the harmonic minor bookends of single “Sands of Time” provide some much-needed headbang-ability. At 50 minutes this album risks running overlong, but the band generally has a good handle on song structure and knows how to use style variance and riff placement to make the songs feel shorter than they are (“Forging the Past,” “Caught In A Dream”).

Paralydium excel at high-flying performances but they’re missing a key part of the songwriting formula: hooks. The absence of memorable, catchy material is the death knell of any composition, prog-leaning ones especially. The band get closest with the chorus in “Sands of Time”—as evidenced by its status as lead single—but after multiple listens, that was the only vocal or instrumental melody that stuck in my head. And then there’s “The Arcane Exploration.” This mammoth, 25-minute opus-split-in-two accounts for roughly half of the album’s runtime, but doesn’t have anywhere near the dynamic or style shifts to justify its length. Usually, prog bands will break tracks like this into movements, each with their own flavor and verse/chorus structure. But Paralydium gamble big on two giant movements, and ultimately fall flat with overextended solo and transition sections and not enough shared DNA to tie the tracks together. It’s a pity because the performances within border on excellent, but the pitfall of prog is indulgence that gives way to sterility, and Universe Calls falls prey to exactly that issue.

Which brings us to the flip side of the Symphony X-worship that is Universe Calls. The surface of the album is ready-to-serve, and it makes for a nostalgic, enjoyable listen for those who yearn for the halcyon days of symphonic prog. But there’s something missing inside, the absence of the vibrant core that made V: The New Mythology Suite and The Odyssey such genre classics. I hope Paralydium continue to find their own style and voice, but I can’t help but feel Universe Calls represents a ceiling for their growth. It’s one thing to emulate a genre-defining band and carry on the legacy they forged, especially when said band has been a decade quiet. But as the late, great Omar Little opined, “when you come at the king, you best not miss.”



Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: N/A | Format Reviewed: STREAM
Label: Frontiers Music
Website: facebook.com/paralydium
Releases Worldwide: August 23rd, 2024

The post Paralydium – Universe Calls Review appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.