Variah hail from wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen, formed in 2009 by Enrique Justiniano and Martin Winslow from the ashes of several experimental projects featuring the pair. They took a heavier direction at this point and were joined by three other like-minded souls who honed their sound for a couple of years before unleashing this, their debut album.
The band master in prog metal and it is fine stuff, Dream Thearteresque but turned all the way up to eleven. I did falter a bit when listening to opening track ‘Disbelieves’ as vocalist Magnus Thomson sounded about a couple of keys out of tune at some points, but persevere and it all becomes crystal clear. The playing on all tracks is excellent with melodies mixed well with heavy riffs and intricate guitar work. The band describe their sound as ‘ melodic, symphonic, classical, metal/rock’, which is perhaps a bit overstated but not far off, it is impressive stuff.
Stand out tracks on the album are ’Cast The Spell’ which has an incessant, driving riff, ’Hidden Agenda’ which contains some breathtaking interaction by all the musicians and the last track ’ Tear You Apart’ which is the longest track on the album and starts out as a bit of a slow burner but turns into a full on prog metal master class, it even has a bit of rap in the middle, but it is only a brief snippet thankfully !
Overall then, this is a damn fine debut album from Variah and hopefully this project will be one that lasts the test of time.
****
David Wilson
Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK
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Power Plays w/c 24 March 2025
HARRI LARKIN Too Close To The Sun (Robot Distro)
SANDNESS Not Your Dog (Rockshots Records)
DOCTOR BLACK Drag Me Down (indie)
COHEED AND CAMBRIA Goodbye Sunshine (Virgin Music Group)
LEONI JANE KENNEDY Closer (indie)
SMALL TOWN POLITICS Red Lights (indie)
Featured Albums w/c 24 March 2025
09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2024 (Singer Songwriter)
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