LOST IN KIEV

Pesona

PELAGIC

Gallic post-rock futurists offer a briefer history of time

The third chapter of Lost In Kiev’s epic, sprawling instrumental rock comes with a few twists to the formula. A lighter affair, Persona still retains the spoken word elements and breadth of vision, but with more emphasis on synths that give the album a neofuturistic feel. It conjures a pristine atmosphere rather than revelling in in-vogue 80s-style future dystopia. Tracks have been made shorter whilst still retaining the Parisians’ widescreen magnitude. Persona mostly succeeds; Lifelooper® and XM3126 still fit a remarkable amount in, but a couple of tracks do feel rushed in the pursuit of brevity – a skill that hopefully Lost In Kiev will perfect come album number four. ■■■■■■■■■■

FOR FANS OF’: Toundra, Exxasens, If These Trees Could Talk deathcore-inspired noise that makes your head nod and then evaporates from your mind the second it’s all over. Which is a shame, as it is clear that The Machinist are technically proficient musicians, and vocalist Amanda Gjelaj does actually have a very distinctive voice in a scene full of identikit frontmen. But the band really could do with unleashing themselves from the shackles of the scene they currently find themselves in and experimenting with their use of dynamics if they ever want to be more than also-rans. ■■■■■■■■■■

FOR FANS OF: Beneath The Massacre, Suicide Silence, The Agonist meat’n’potatoes folk metal. Songs like Hervors Arv and Tvenne Drömmar give off a strong whiff of epicmetal-by-numbers, with perfunctory melodies and pedestrian arrangements that dull the impact of Månegarm’s more adventurous instincts. ■■■■■■■■■■