Here we have France’s Gorod’s second full length offering on Willowtip Records entitled Leading Vision. Their first album Neurotripsicks was originally released in 2004 on Deadsun Records, so there’s been at least the span of 2 years between the recording of the band’s two offerings. Neurotripsicks was an impressive display of technical death metal but seemed to be lacking in the songwriting department.

When I played the album for the first time a few major differences were evident from the minute I hit play. The production is very clean and clear and a perfect production for the band’s complex riff-a-thon style. The vocals and vocal patterns are much improved as well, never distracting from the material. The biggest surprise was the stylistic shift, while the first album was pretty much pure technical death metal, this effort combines elements from other styles, most notably jazz and progressive rock.

There are moments throughout the release where there are extended non-vocal segments where I feel like I’m listening to a death metal Joe Satriani cover band with the riffing and soloing style, and I’m honestly not sure if that’s a plus or a negative. Regardless, they’ve upped the technicality on this effort significantly putting them in Cynic’s league as far as technical progressive jazz-fused metal is concerned.

The music is filled with plenty of breakdowns and tempo changes, and while it’s technical it also begins to sound very predictable very quickly and it’s obvious that while the band worked hard on incorporating more influences into their music, they didn’t put in the time and effort they should have on the songwriting side of things. I’m not saying the album is bad, it’s just very repetitive after a while and I find myself losing interest after I hear the same patterns played in different tempos over and over again.

To be honest, the only song on the album that kept my attention was "Chronicle From The Stone Age", the rest just couldn’t keep my attention for long. As much of a fan as I am of technical death metal, and I am a huge fan of Death, Gorguts, Necrophagist and the like, I just can’t stay interested in this album for very long.

If you’re a fan of technical progressive jazz-fused melodic death metal that’s overflowing with wanky solos galore then you’ll blow a load in your pants when you hear this album. If, however, you prefer substance over style, then I’d suggest digging through the back catalogs of Death and Gorguts. Leading Vision is good, but it’s just really not my thing.

Written By: Teufel