The first full-length album from Marvin Dawe aka BlackearacheXD sees the musician honing his arrangement skills while allowing his prog aesthetic to blossom. You could call History Will Eat Itself a “prog rock/math rock” album, and while that’s true for half of the album, the other half borrows more from psychedelic rock and post-rock than anything else. Tracks like “A Beautiful Song” demonstrate that Marvin can easily transition between genres even within a single track, but the brilliance of his arrangements are more apparent on the lengthier tracks like “Alien Manifestation” and “The Tower”, both of which clock over ten minutes long. Put simply, this album manages to remain fresh and engaging despite being almost an hour and a half long.

Fans of Marvin will be at home with the album’s first few tracks “City Ruins” and “Peaceful Sleep”, but on the third track “Amusement Park”, Marvin changes the tone of the album with the help of collaborator Lizzie Andrews. It is here where Marvin’s skills as an arranger become abundantly clear, and he utilizes every collaborator on this album to their full potential. It’s also on “Amusement Park” where Marvin proves that he is in a league of his own when it comes to technical prog rock, offering dazzling riffs like the one at 4:52.

As mentioned before, “A Beautiful Song” offers a variety of sounds and emotions, opening with a haunting vocal performance by Lizzie Andrews before descending into a metalcore breakdown. Following the breakdown, the tracks returns to its prog roots before slowing down into a sludgy/doom metal section that sounds like something born out of a swamp. The track closes with a psychedelic/ambient aesthetic, leaving listeners bewildered, but satisfied. I can only think of a handful of people in the VGM community that could have pulled this track off, but I doubt anyone could have done it as seamlessly and confidently as Marvin.

I could spend entire paragraphs talking about the remaining tracks, but suffice it to say that Marvin completely nails the pacing of the album, which is a feat in itself when you consider that all of these tracks clock in at over five minutes long. If I had to make any criticisms of the album, the productions sounds a bit muddled at times, especially the drums. That being said, the strength of the arrangements and the guitar tones vastly outweigh any flaws that the album possesses. I can confidently recommend this album to anyone with a passing interest in prog metal, Nier Automata, or beefy, syncopated riffs.

History Will Eat Itself is a triumph because it challenges preconceptions about cover albums and music in general. In a time where our attention is often divided and media is more bite-sized than ever, it’s a bold move to trust that listeners will stay engaged, even when listening to a ten-minute track. Fortunately, BlackearacheXD trusts his listeners, and I’m sure that after listening to this album, you’ll trust him too.

Related Links:

iTunes

Amazon

Spotify