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Blog Categories Review AAL - The Only Path - Reviewed By All Around Metal!

AAL - The Only Path - Reviewed By All Around Metal! Monday October 19 2020, 7:09 PM

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AAL - The Only Path - Reviewed By All Around Metal! check it out here at this link: http://www.allaroundmetal.com/component/content/article/26-releases/7766-un-po-troppi-generi-e-sottogeneri-convivono-nel-sound-del-debut-album-degli-aal

I must admit that I was somewhat taken aback by listening to "The Only Path", the absolute debut - self-produced - by Aal, the solo project of the Lithuanian artist Al Potapov, who uses drummer Kšištof Markevič for this work. This is because, in its own way, "The Only Path" is a strange work which for the most part shuns the reference genre - Progressive Death Metal - and the bands indicated in the info sheets as influences - which you can find more on - already from the opener "Arrival" which has strong references to Tool and the following "Per Aspera Ad Astra" in which you go from a MeloDeath à la At the Gates to Prog Death phrasing up to new Melodic Death ambitions, which are more reminiscent of Dark Tranquility. After several listenings I still haven't been able to understand if Potapov is a great songwriter or if he cut and pasted different styles, creating a work that, in the end, can also be heard. The rest of the album in fact continues along the same lines, without linearity and without a guideline between Melodic Death, Prog-Death, Groove, Alternative. "The Only Path" also has its good moments, but I think we still need something to make it less twisted; the feeling is that Aal is still a 'work in progress' project, so we just have to wait for the near future to see what the Lithuanian artist has in store for us. without linearity and without a guideline between Melodic Death, Prog-Death, Groove, Alternative. "The Only Path" also has its good moments, but I think we still need something to make it less twisted; the feeling is that Aal is still a 'work in progress' project, so we just have to wait for the near future to see what the Lithuanian artist has in store for us. without linearity and without a guideline between Melodic Death, Prog-Death, Groove, Alternative. "The Only Path" also has its good moments, but I think we still need something to make it less twisted; the feeling is that Aal is still a 'work in progress' project, so we just have to wait for the near future to see what the Lithuanian artist has in store for us.

Progressive death metal back in style! AAL is a prog death metal project currently residing in Vilnius , Lithuania . The roots of the project can be traced back to the early 2004 which can be counted as a starting point of its brainchild’s Al Potapov’ s lingering struggle through life hardships to forging this masterpiece debut record. Went thought several line-up and name changes and at the end it was decided to release the idea as a solo project. The concept of the music was revised, some of previously created material was restored and mixed with completely new ideas to merge together as a fresh debut record. On it Al is taking up guitarist’s, bass player’s and vocalist’s duties, and for drumwork he invites local drummer Kšištof Markevič.

Al defines the music style of his project as a some sort of an old-school prog death metal with frequent shifts in rhythmic patterns and compositional structure of songs. The lyrical matter is mainly focused on different philosophical aspects of human condition and is also influenced by the ideas of such writers like Franz Kafka or Strugatsky brothers.

Album release date – 10/07/2020

Available on – Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Deezer etc.