I cannot wander far from the idea that this album sounds a lot like Opeth, especially “Blackwater Park” and “My Arms, Your Hearse”, so I’ll say that now. This six track, 69 minute, progressive death metal work is the Russian band’s second album.
“Amphibious” is fresh, powerful and brash. I didn’t find myself picking out bits since it sweeps along epically much like an Opeth album. There’s no doubting the intensity and as we launch into “Lighthouse”, not only is it heavy, it’s murderous, recalling the “silent dance with death” and all that. Sirening guitars melt into an eerie acoustic-electro soundscape and the controlled prog heaviness returns. Yes, it’s like an Opeth fest – a good one, it has to be said. Akerfeldt-style clean harmonies accompany the raging punch-packing heaviness. The growls are better than the lightweight passages but the album is about the combination of the melodic brutality and the dreaminess, which can have an element of jazzy invention about it. The title track has typical majesty and sophistication but is more pensive than the other tracks while continuing on to rumble on heavily. “Skull and Bones” is more anarchic. Flamboyant guitar work signals a bewitching passage and at this point we reach a rare emotional climax. We’re over 40 minutes into the album. Time has flown by. Yet more flamboyant guitar work is central to “Time Signal”, a crashing prog death metal track which is both an explosion of roars and growls yet also cultured, patient and imperious. As an album this flows so that one monster track blends into the next, finally reaching a lofty emotional climax at the end of “Washed Away”, the final episode of this epic extravaganza.
Listening to “Amphibious” is like being transported majestically on a journey over rolling landscapes. Yet there was something missing. I played “Blackwater Park” and realised what it was. The fluidity and power are both here but although heaviness blends smoothly into mellow passages and back again and the technical skill is supreme, there aren’t the twists and turns or the drama that Opeth manage to generate. “Blackwater Park” is moment after moment of brilliance. Such moments are more sporadic on “Amphibious”. This album is a monster in its own way but of a consistently high standard rather than being born of outright genius.
(7.5/10 Andrew Doherty)
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