The Detached

One unfortunate stereotype of metal is that it's mindless, loud music enjoyed by rednecks and macho men who bang their thick heads to it while drinking beer and punching each other in the face, or maybe by D&D nerds who call each other by their characters' names in real life. (Maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the idea) Fortunately, there are bands like Anubis Gate around for me to point to to dispel this illusion.

This album is true progressive power metal at its finest. The Detached aims equally for the head and the heart and succeeds on both counts. Their sound is spacey, heavy, ultra-melodic, and undeniably catchy; their lyrics are equal parts sci-fi, mysticism, and introspection. It's one of those albums with a lot going on behind the lyrics; you need to get the CD to fully appreciate just how much thought went into writing this intricate and brilliant composition. I often associate different bands' sounds with places; Anubis Gate puts you in the tall tower of a remote research base on an alien world, lost in contemplation. (Or, now that I've read the album notes, at one of the corners of the closed, dodecahedron-shaped universe looking out at all things) The songs are generally built on a framework of guitars playing intricate riffs over haunting keyboard melodies and galloping drumbeats, but they prove there is plenty of room for invention on top of this foundation.

The intro track, "On the Detached", is one of the best songs under a minute I've heard, with vocalist Jacob Hansen singing a hauntingly beautiful prelude to the mysteries of the rest of the album over a pseudo-symphonic keyboard background. Hansen absolutely nails it on this album; his distinctively passionate and dramatic voice stays clear and strong over a considerable range, getting deep and mournful before soaring to almost Halford-esque heights with plenty of power in it over his whole range.

Then "Find a Way (or Make One)" explodes out from behind the keyboards, shattering the peace and introducing the intellectual bombast that characterizes much of the album. The combination of melody with surging, on-again off-again intensity and Hansen's vocals is somehow soothing and intense at the same time. At around 2:30, we get a piano solo that gives way to a lengthy and extremely fun guitar solo/instrumental break. The solos on this album, which account for most of the songs' generous length (except for interlude tracks, all are at least five and a half minutes), aren't focused on pure shredding as much as musical exploration in the vein of Dream Theater (minus some of the looniness).

Seven-and-a-half-minute "Yiri" is somewhat more complex and multisegmented; much of it features the distinctive, "galloping" drumming style heard a lot on this album, never excessively fast but always seemingly perfect. Largely in lieu of a guitar solo it has an extended choral interlude (credited as an honest-to-goodness vocal solo by Jacob) which really just has to be heard.

"Lost in Myself" is one of the simpler songs of the album (except the usual extended instrumental section), but that much catchier for it. Hansen's aforementioned range comes into play here, lower and quiet during the verses but soaring in the incredibly addictive chorus, which gets shifted up even more at the end. The plodding drumbeat underscoring a heavily reverb-y guitar riff proves that power metal doesn't have to be fast to be great.

On the rest of the album, "Dodecahedron" uses lots of electronic-type effects to make a song that is as subtle as it is loud; I think it's the best example here of Anubis Gate's highly polished antithesis to the mindless stereotypes of metal. And the chorus is highly addictive to boot. "Bloodoath" is the most intense track on the album, with rapid, frantic, phased guitar chugging over double-bass drumming and another soaring, climactic vocal line in the chorus. At six and a half minutes, it has time for a wondrous solo. Again, the solos on this album are far from simple displays of musicianship; each feels like a journey to the stars and back filled with discovery.

The finale, "A Lifetime to Share", is another stellar example of the band's talent for mixing intellection and aggression; after an brief ambient/sampled intro, it breaks out one of the heaviest riffs on the album which soon breaks to more of Hansen's impassioned vocals. The chorus is masterful, truly epic, and ties the album up very nicely.

There are also, of course, two epics (even relative to "Yiri" and "Bloodoath"). The first, "Pyramids", has a recurring melody that almost sounds like a sitar, with other exotic melodies built around it; overall, it's a bit less heavy than the rest of the album. The three-and-a-half minute instrumental break is pure bliss. And "Options - Going Nowhere" effectively provides the climax of the entire album. After a minute-and-a-half prelude that has nothing to do with the rest of the song, it goes into a more traditional verse-chorus section with a percussion-heavy melody, liberally seasoned with guitarwork. Its calmer and more intense passages flow one right into the other and you can't help but get carried along for the ride.

The Detached is a very strong progressive power metal album with numerous facets to it that bear many repeat listens. As a testament to this, I have been listening to it nearly every day for the past month or so. As with anything on this blog, it's certainly worth expanding your musical horizons over.