Tragødia
Mythmaker
Kolony Records
2013
Tragødia are an Italian band that started out in 1996 but it took them 11 years to get the chance to record their debut feature album (“The Promethean Legacy”). On November 1st they released their 3rd record, “Mythmaker”, which finds the band with a much more progressive metal mood rather than the gothic atmosphere they were known for through their previous work. For those who might not know, “Tragodia” it’s a Greek word which means tragedy. There is no doubt that their new album has its share of low points, however, and as much as I would like to do a little wordplay, calling the whole thing a tragedy would be unfair.
One thing that I thought to myself when I put the record on was that the band was kinda trying a little too hard to sound heavy and “metal”. What I mean by that is that they sounded like they had taken all the tricks that make a good metal album, threw them all into a blender and hoped for the best. The first 3 tracks are the kind that you just know exactly how they will unfold from the first 10 seconds. Cliché lyrics, cliché guitar solos and even more cliché keyboards. To be more exact, some of the guitar riffs brought to mind the music from arcade games of the 80s.
However, when “Wisdom in the Meadows of Sorrow” came on everything began to change. It’s as if Tragødia sort of relaxed and played some good music. Take “The Stone and the Idol” for instance, which features a really good mixture of violin orchestral music with heavy grooves and even some Zakk Wylde sounding guitar touches, or “Mythmaker” (by far the best track there). Tragødia are a pretty talented band, but for some reason they can’t let go of their need to show off; I’m going to use “Wisdom in the Meadows of Sorrow” as an example again, the high-pitched vocals at the end of almost every verse are totally unnecessary and come really close to becoming just a bit ridiculous. A great example of the show-off mentality in “Mythmaker” are most (if not all) guitar solos there too. Guys, stop trying to sound deep, dark and so darn awesome, because you manage to do the exact opposite. Let’s face it, titles like “A Cry Among the Stars”, “The Oracle and the Muse”, “Tidal Waves of Greatness” and “The Weeping Rock of Seriphus” do not sound cool, they sound like the songs written by a 14-year-old metalhead. God knows no metalhead was ever cool at high school.
One thing that I thought to myself when I put the record on was that the band was kinda trying a little too hard to sound heavy and “metal”. What I mean by that is that they sounded like they had taken all the tricks that make a good metal album, threw them all into a blender and hoped for the best. The first 3 tracks are the kind that you just know exactly how they will unfold from the first 10 seconds. Cliché lyrics, cliché guitar solos and even more cliché keyboards. To be more exact, some of the guitar riffs brought to mind the music from arcade games of the 80s.
However, when “Wisdom in the Meadows of Sorrow” came on everything began to change. It’s as if Tragødia sort of relaxed and played some good music. Take “The Stone and the Idol” for instance, which features a really good mixture of violin orchestral music with heavy grooves and even some Zakk Wylde sounding guitar touches, or “Mythmaker” (by far the best track there). Tragødia are a pretty talented band, but for some reason they can’t let go of their need to show off; I’m going to use “Wisdom in the Meadows of Sorrow” as an example again, the high-pitched vocals at the end of almost every verse are totally unnecessary and come really close to becoming just a bit ridiculous. A great example of the show-off mentality in “Mythmaker” are most (if not all) guitar solos there too. Guys, stop trying to sound deep, dark and so darn awesome, because you manage to do the exact opposite. Let’s face it, titles like “A Cry Among the Stars”, “The Oracle and the Muse”, “Tidal Waves of Greatness” and “The Weeping Rock of Seriphus” do not sound cool, they sound like the songs written by a 14-year-old metalhead. God knows no metalhead was ever cool at high school.