Artist: Aspera
Label: Inside Out Records
Release: 2010
Runtime: 54:45
Rating: 3.5/5
Aspera are a bunch of Norwegian kids nurturing their own musical voice, sworn to the building blocks of progressive metal. Why kids? They’re about 20 years old on average. “Ripples” is their studio debut, and before it they put out three EPs on their own dime. So, self-released. Since progressive metal is a pretty broad term, even if not always an easy one to crack, let’s take a closer look at how Aspera serve the stuff up.
In its expression, the band makes no secret of the influence of the standards Dream Theater set in the nineties. It shows up here and there in the guitar and keyboard solo excursions, mostly in that department. The principle of the soloing, and the use of keyboard sounds in general, pulls toward the first half of the nineties Dream Theater. That’s not necessarily spelled out, but in some of the structural dialogues of those solos, the Dream Theater influence can’t be overlooked. Still, Aspera are more “cerebral” than the big Americans. So in the dynamic, typically progressive structures, we often find calmer passages with a cerebral touch, led by classical piano or Floyd-style “glissando” guitar. Between Black And White is like that, a song where Aspera must have taken a few lessons from the Scandinavians of high pedigree, Pain Of Salvation. Here the band manages, within a complex structure of many core guiding motifs, to keep the common thread, gradually weaving many moods together through the transitional passages. For their age, the band is incredibly gifted and shows off its skills with ambition. The arrangements are seriously mature and polished. They’re pompously shaped, and the keyboards sound like a whole orchestra is playing. Where have we heard that before? You don’t have to look far. Symphony X (the chorus in Remorse).
The weaker element is only the vocals, and only in the spots where he tries to sound thin or go for a harsh (guttural) edge. But even that is carefully covered up, since the lead vocal, especially in the choruses, is often surrounded by a colorful palette of multi-vocal harmonies. Then again, you can cut the guy some slack. At 20, your chest is still developing. That doesn’t mean the singing isn’t satisfying. Far from it. It shows an innate feel, and its volume and depth will definitely fill out in the future. As far as carrying and holding a melody goes, the vocals handle the existing form with ease.
The guitar solos carry the recognizable Scandinavian approach to soloing, pure classical school, closest to Malmsteen. The production has crystal-clear, accentuated contrasts between sharp, forward-pushed riffing and a dynamic rhythm line that carefully breaks up the rhythm of the complexly designed textures, with the vocals front and center. The whole thing is slyly draped in a rich curtain of symphonic arrangements built by the keyboards. The album’s complexity is broken up by the simpler, more compactly defined Torn Apart.
Aspera are interesting because they don’t get under your skin right away, but demand repeated listens. Along the way they manage to carve out enough creative space for their own artistic inspiration that we can talk about a touch of recognizability. The band also successfully adds a sense of unpredictability thanks to the rich variety in the arrangements mentioned above. Everything feels connected and juicy enough, which meets the basic demand of the music consumer. In this layered setup, the album as a whole manages to captivate and keep the listener constantly alert and ready to absorb its content as things unfold.
“Ripples” showed right from the start that Aspera are a young, talented and promising band that looks ahead with ambition, manages to develop a recognizable touch, and does a great job walking the tightrope between complexity and melodic compactness. They combine both attributes so that the album’s content keeps the sense of the arrangements and the common thread. This is an album that makes for an excellent starting platform, so it’ll be interesting to follow this development through Aspera’s future studio efforts.
Lineup
Atle Pettersen – vocals
Robin Ognedal – guitar
Nickolas Main Henriksen – keyboards
Rein T. Blomquist – bass guitar
Joachim Strom Ekelund – drums
Production
Aspera
Tracklist
1. Intro (1:31)
2. Ripples (6:33)
3. Do I Dare? (5:30)
4. Remorse (6:21)
5. Between Black & White (8:11)
6. Catatonic Coma (5:44)
7. Torn Apart (4:58)
8. Traces Inside (7:51)
9. Reflections (2:03)
10. The Purpose (5:58)
