When you think of progressive metal, Iran is very far down on the list of countries where you’d expect the genre be played. However, Heterochrome are determined to get their name out there and after releasing an enjoyable album in 2017, the band are back with their sophomore album ‘From the Ashes’.
When it comes to the prog metal that Heterochrome play with ‘From the Ashes’, this is a band which stays well within the realms of accessibility. This isn’t prog metal that is so technical and elitist that it takes Rain Man to understand it, let alone enjoy it. No, this is fully enjoyable from the off, tracks such as ‘Baraye Farda, For Tomorrow’, ‘Rage Against the People’ and ‘Sargardan, Wanderer’ have all the ability to appeal to fans of Dream Theater, Fates Warning and Redemption with their gentle, aesthetically pleasing dynamics. The tracks here never, ever stretch beyond their means, there aren’t any 20-minute epics, these songs are concise having a little bit more akin to Between the Buried and Me than say other bands of the same ilk who may struggle to end a song on time. Furthermore, the vocals of Mida Malek are genuinely beautiful as the lyrics switch between Arabic and English without breaking a sweat.
‘From the Ashes’ is a decent record when its being played, the songs at times aren’t very memorable, but that doesn’t take away what it thoroughly enjoyable when being played and hopefully it won’t be too long before Heterochrome return.
