Dystopium 2011

"The Gothenburg sound has made its way from melodic death metal into the worlds of metalcore, power metal, traditional metal, industrial metal and progressive metal, and it certainly serves as the base sound of the brand of progressive metal found on Loch Vostok's "Dystopium". But "Dystopium" is not a melodeath release - it is a progressive metal release with the Swedish melodeath sound. The guitars are generally very heavy on this release, and a lot of the riffage is heavy and groovy with the occasional djent element. The tunes generally sound big and kind of epic, but actually they are actually kept reasonably short (for progressive metal), never exceeding 6:30 minutes of length. Amidts the heavy and groovy passages, Loch Vostok insert wee progressive details and funny elements as well as odd time signatures. Fans of extreme metal will be pleased to know that Loch Vostok draw extensively on extreme metal, and you can expect blastbeats and growling to be on equal footing with the melodic and progressive elements. The clean vocals might take some getting used to because, like on Ashen Reign's "An Angels Burden" they are softer and less powerful than what you might be used to from metal music in general, but give it a couple of spins, and you should be able to appreciate it. Recommended to fans of progressive metal, melodeath and modern metal in general. (review originally posted- at metalmusicarchives.com)"