If you are true metal-head stop right here! Junius is one of my latest discovery in progressive metal/rock music. The clear high vocals might find my friends irritating but the expression of the music made very good impression on me reminding me Chino Moreno from time to time (check the song “A Reflection on Fire” below). In any case – since the first listening I had this (and the other albums) on repeat tens of time.
Disclaimer: this is not a real review. It’s just a record of my impression.
It’s been 4 years since I started using Spotify for listening to music and it changed my life. Until then I rotated few mp3s on my disk a suffered the bad quality and was too lazy to update. And also I stuck with my favorite albums and got far behind new releases.
Since the last Brutal Assault i fell in love with post/progressive metal and rock. I had some bands ready in my drawer (Opeth, Anathema) but it was time for something new. And this is where Spotify comes on scene.
Two things that I really appreciated on Spotify are recommendations and “Fans Also Like”. This is where I found this French band Junius which was actually formed in 2003 and the first album “The Martyrdom of a Catastrophist” came out on 2009. “Reports from the Threshold of Death” was released on 2011 and is Junius’s oldest album on Spotify.
The long melodies, comforting rhythm, slightly surrealistic lyrics and mainly the mood of all the song really caught my attention. Either I’m on my way to work, working or just relaxing for many weeks this is my top 5 choice.
To represent this album there would be few good choices. One hot tip for me would be “The Meeting of Pasts” that somehow reminds me chorus of “Ordinary World” by Duran Duran or “A Reflection on Fire” mentioned above but my most favorite is almost for sure “All Shall Float”. Despite the bands intention it brights Stephen Kings “It” on my mind every time I hear that song.
There is only one thing that disturbs me – I tried several sources for this album and every time I felt like the sound is not clear as it should be. It just sounds as it was bad compression or someone is throwing sand on cymbals. This makes me think that remastering the album would be welcome move. But never mind I enjoy even as it is.
My ranking for this album would be 5 whiripools out of five but because the distortions in sound I give 4 out of five instead. Still excellent music! If you love true metal, remove two whirpools from the ranking. 😉