I'm going to go ahead and start this review off by saying that Joe Waller is a fucking genius. Everything the man touches turns to gold (making it precious METAL, through and through) and his new associative project, Amiensus, is no exception.
To me, very little is left to be discovered in the realm of black metal. It's been merged with doom, death, thrash, symphonic elements, psychedelia, progressive rock, etc.... All with significant impacts on the original genre. All becoming common place. The Amiensus collective must have sensed this disturbance in the metal ley lines and sought to restore what has gone awry with their own very personal brand of progressive black metal.
Restoration is an emotional ride through ancient icy woods that come alive when your back is turned. Song after song, you're pummeled by creatively-twisted arrangements that range from face-crushing death metal to soul-shredding black metal to...Gotye-ish indie rock? Trust me, when you hear it all mixed together it's a thing a unimaginable beauty.
You can tell that everyone involved with Amiensus has poured their hearts and souls into this recording. If you can't hear it in the shared vocal duties (easily some of the best vocal arrangements I've EVER heard are in this album), then you'll feel it by just letting Amiensus take over for about forty five minutes. It's time well spent, though I'm sure ninety minutes would have been a better estimate since you'll probably listen to this album back to back with itself.
I might be going too far in saying that Amiensus is going to be the next great Opethian experience, but I'm pretty sure that the complement is well worth the lumps I'm sure to receive for it.
Amiensus On Facebook
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