Let’s switch gears now and travel across the ocean and time as well. I want to take you on a trip to Finland and back to the 1970’s. Let me add a disclaimer real quick: this album has some progressive death metal in it, along with some growling vocals, so it’s not for the faint of heart. I know, the word death scares a lot of music fans off, and rightfully so. There are not many death metal bands that I am a fan of, and I could probably list the ones I enjoy on Michael Scofield’s toes. Yeah, Prison Break reference. Pure death metal bands just don’t do it for me. Cookie Monster on the microphone doesn’t appeal to me at all. It’s actually why I haven’t written about the new Slice the Cake album that everyone seems to be raving about lately. Vocals matter to me, and I can’t do ones that make my blood hurt. I’ve been gradually getting used to them as I listen to more music, because there is some genius in bands like Between the Buried and Me, Periphery, and this new Finnish band, Perihelion Ship.

Instead of peppering this review with youtube links for you to click on, I am instead linking you to the band’s bandcamp page where you can choose to take a listen for yourself. There are only five tracks on the album, but it still clocks in at a healthy 51 and a half minutes. This is largely because of the final track, which is unquestionably the highlight of the album, hitting 21 minutes of wonderful and complex music. I love extremely long complicated multi part tracks, and this one is no exception. More on that title track shortly.

This album is the band’s debut album, and you could do much worse as far as prog metal debuts go. A Rare Thunderstorm in Spring (ARTS for short) gives us a surprisingly delightful blending of 70’s prog metal with some more contemporary death/extreme metal elements. The growling, the percussion, and aggressive guitar riffs bring out the more extreme portions of the band which frequently has an Opethian vibe, but it does have a softer side to it. When the growling ceases, the clean vocals are reminiscent of Geddy Lee and I wish they were featured more. Additionally, there’s something I haven’t highlighted yet directly but only touched on when talking about the 70’s. This band heavily features a classic instrument from the 70’s – the Hammond B3 Organ. I grew up knowing everything about that wonderful instrument, and its Leslie Cabinet, thanks to my old man and his experience with one in his band when he was growing up. To those of you unfamiliar, a Hammond B3 is a powered two-tiered organ that you may know from church. It’s been used by so many bands you love, I couldn’t even start on the names of them all. You’ll hear the organ when you listen to the music, it’s right there and in your face.

Two worlds smash together to make this album, and it works most of the time but when it doesn’t, it clashes fairly significantly. In most of the tracks on this album, it flows along impressively, especially throughout the title track. I wouldn’t think to put an organ like that in with heavy duty prog metal like this, but that’s why this band is starting out right. They’re doing something that most prog metal bands haven’t done, and that is to openly and frequently feature this instrument throughout their music. Some recent prog metal bands like Beardfish bring in the Hammond B3, but they usually only use it in certain parts of tracks to emphasize the music. I can’t think newer bands that incorporate it in this way, and that is fine. It’s the kind of sound that usually stands alone, so to have it as just another part of the show is intriguing. I’m not married to the combination of growling vocals along with the organ, but this was definitely an experimental project for a debut album and I give the band credit for this. It may be instinctual that I prefer to follow the lyrics as they flow around an organ in a song, and if I can’t understand most of the vocals, it just falls flat in that aspect.

In the final track, which if I haven’t made clear, is also the title track, the band goes all out. I can’t imagine how this track would be played live, because it switches gears so significantly so many times that it would get exhausting. When I talk to prog musicians after concerts, I gravitate towards asking them about how they can switch gears so fluidly and keep it all straight. Sure, they memorize the music and it’s no big deal to them, but from the outside observer, it has to get incredibly complicated to keep track of multiple time signature changes and breakdowns and all of that. Back to the final track – I feel like I need to listen to it a few more times to get the various parts, and I should probably read the lyrics to make sure I have the story all put together in my head. Its ebbs and flows are heavy and very technically sound. For a debut album, the band made sure to mix and produce the album well. The riffs are killer, including the ones at the beginning and sprinkled throughout the the final track. The computerized voice telling the history of what has happened helps fill in the gaps that we missed with the story is also a nice touch.

This album was released digitally back in January, however their physical release was on May 10th, so this review is still timely. I had to take some time to digest this album when I first listened to it, because growl vocals are still grating to me. I was able to get past them in this album, and they didn’t physically bother me like how Deafheaven does. Still, and no disrespect to this band or other bands that utilize growl vocals, but they just aren’t for me. I can get used to them but I’m that weirdo Opeth fan that prefers Heritage and Pale Communion to some of the previous more growly Opeth albums (but Blackwater Park stands above). If you can sing, and sing well, then do. I’ve said it plenty of times and I’ll say it one more time – lyrics matter. Sure, growling vocals have lyrics, but good luck trying to decipher them. While the vocals matter a lot, the rest of the band comes through and make a great sound. The guitar is on point and doesn’t get too crazy, the drums are heavy but not too heavy, and most of all the organ is a surprisingly great addition to a heavy prog metal band. I was a little skeptical when I first read a description of the band as “extreme progressive metal band that utilizes a sound from the 70’s” but I learned as many others will – it works. I give Perihelion Ship’s debut album, A Rare Thunderstorm in Spring, 12 Ratings Units out of 15. The vocals are by and large what took away from the album to me, but this will be a great learning experience for the band. I look forward to hearing what’s next from them. As a final note, the album art is terrific.