The Parallax

The Parallax is a four-piece progressive death metal band from Mississauga, Ontario.

“We are happy to finally bring you our debut full length album, Obliquity of the Eclpitic featuring 5 lengthy melodic tracks including the 23-minute song The Reformatting,” they say.

The Parallax has had the opportunity to share the stage with Protest the Hero, The Agonist, and Intervals among many others. So, if you like your metal death and prog with thrashy edge, check The Parallax – they’ve got some interesting stuff for you. - Prog Sphere

The Parallax come from Canada and this is their début album of Extreme Progressive Metal.

The closest band for comparison would be the mighty Between the Buried and Me, although to the credit of The Parallax they manage to use the template but don’t sound like a rip off. Another good example of this would be a band like The Odious who also share the Between the Buried and Me influence but like The Parallax they have their own sound built onto it. Other bands that The Parallax are reminiscent of in places are the more recent Strapping Young Lad material and Lascaille’s Shroud.

Like Between the Buried and Me the band are hard to categorise as they have so much going on, but I suppose you could brand them as playing Extreme Progressive Metal, if you really wanted to pigeon hole.

The band have epic, sprawling songs full of high speed Metal and highly melodic riffing, where the solos and leads are plentiful and played better than most.

Keyboards and effects wash over the music in waves. Piano sections and 70-s style duelling synths are common.

Harsh vocals roar and clean vocals soar. The singer has a very good voice and ably manages the vocals whether they be Power Metal cleans, abrasive roars or anything else.

It’s all very well done and very proficiently played. As you can probably tell from the above the band are certainly not lacking in ambition. There are only 5 tracks but there is an hour of music here, including the epic 23 minute splendour of The Reformatting.

The sound is clear but my only slight complaint, (and it’s only a small thing really), is that it could do with a bit more depth to the sound; it sounds curiously compressed. It stops registering after a while, but when you first listen to this album after another band who, say, have a rounder sound to their recording, it stands out. Definitely not the end of the world, and it might not even be an issue for some people, but just a note for next time.

All in all this is a talented band who have produced a whopper of a début. I have no hesitation in recommending this album at all. If your tastes run to the Progressive and the interesting then Obliquity of the Ecliptic is for you. I fully expect this band to be snapped up by some enterprising record label soon, so get in on the action now. - Wonderbox Metal

Finally the band The Parallax hit the stage with their technical, and progressive sound. Their stage presence was commanded purely by their musicanship, no gimmicks required. Serious tunes from serious dudes. They were one of the nights winners without a doubt. - Ingrid Newton

今週寒くなると聞いたんですよね。

何らか手を打たねば……。このままでは凍えてしまふ。どうしたら。

「着る毛布」だ！

去年位から噂はあちこちでその良さを見聞してはいたのだが、「買おうかなどうしようかな…」と迷っている内に前の冬は終わってしまいました。。。

急に寒くなられても「まだ本格的な暖房はちょっとな～」と戸惑いがあり。

→リサーチして目星を付けた品を先程注文しまして。

注文フォームの備考欄に「勝手ながら今週寒くなるそうなので、出来る限り早く送って下さると助かる」旨を付け添えましてね。（※本当に勝手だな）

したらば、ショップから「最短で手配しました！」と連絡が。

（有難や有難やm(_ _)m）

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SKY.FMのMetalチャンネルでELVENKINGの“Romance & Wrath”がかかってましたyo！

軽くショックでした。（何が？）いえ。嬉しかっただけです。

そう、ショックと言えば…

カナダ・オンタリオ州ミシサガ出身の4人組、Progressive Melodic Death MetalのTHE PARALLAX…

…にショック受けてますーーー！

少々調べてみたのだけど、現状では詳細な情報が得られず。。。

が、先月22日にリリースされた5曲のフルレングス・アルバム「OBLIQUITY OF THE ECLIPTIC」を購入して聴きましたら…

心躍って止まないーーーっっ！！！

ウキウキして仕方ないーーーーーっっ！！！！！

最も最短尺の曲でも7分3秒…そして、最長は23分1秒！という、けして短くはない一曲毎にエキサイトなエッセンスが詰め込まれており。

メロデスとしてもメロデス好きの「痒い所に手が届いて、見事に掻いてくれる」ポテンシャルもありありだし、（見た所は専任メンバーはいないよう？だが）果敢にKeyもフィーチャーして、様々なアイデアと表現をふんだんに盛り込み、展開していくサマも素晴らしい。

至る所に「沸かせるスイッチ」フレーズが散りばめられてますねえ。

【好きなコト】を根底に、「やりたいコトをやりたい流にやっている」感が、聴いてるこちらもハッピーにさせる気がします。

あと忘れてならないのが、ご覧の通り、ジャケットのアートワークがですね…

そそる…、猛烈にそそる！！！

額縁に入れて飾りたいと思い始めてます。うぬ。

P.S.
苦手意識を克服したREXが勇敢でした。 -

Découvert, selon mon humble perspective, par le grand explorateur musical, je parle bien sûr de l’omniprésent Dave Rouleau, qui les a connus grâce à sa récente entrevue à propos du Wacken Metal Battle Canada, The Parallax nous sert un très bon melodic death aux accents prog. Si leurs arrangements et leurs progressions ne vont pas sans rappeller les maîtres du genre que sont Between the Buried and Me, les moments lyriques et les interludes mélodiques me font plus penser au fondateur du genre, Edge of Sanity. Aussi, et contrairement à Between the Buried and Me, leurs riffs metal sont typiquement death canadien. En fait, ça me fait vraiment beaucoup penser à Neuraxis et le vocal me rappelle un peu celui sur “Trilateral Progression” mais du même coup il est aussi pas loin du vocal gras plein d’air à Between the Buried and Me. J’aime bien leur philosophie qui veut que l’expérience musicale, les sensations ou sentiments que l’on a à vivre pendant l’écoute de leur album priment d’abord et avant tout par rapport à une exposition de talent qui serait juste une distraction. En vrai, plus on avance dans l’écoute de leur LP, mieux on comprend cet énoncé. Il en va sans dire que les quatre comparses de Mississauga, Ontario, sont des excellents musiciens, mais en plus leur musique est organique. On ne fait pas que l’écouter, on la vit.

De plus, étant un fan des longs albums, je suis très bien servi car “Obliquity of the Ecliptic” dure un respectable 60 minutes et la production est impeccable. “Obliquity of the Ecliptic“, c’est une heure où l’on ne s’ennuie mais vraiment pas. Même si la pièce la moins longue dure tout de même plus de sept minutes, on n’a jamais l’impression de longueur, même “The Reformatting” avec ses quelques 23 minutes m’a surpris, je n’ai pas vu le temps passé!

Plus j’écoute et plus je découvre des influences de groupes qui depuis toujours me font tripper, j’ai parlé de Between the Buried and Me et de Neuraxis, de Edge of Sanity, j’aurais tout aussi bien plus nommer Children of Bodom, Amorphis, Tool ou Death. Ce qui est encore mieux, c’est que si leur musique peut faire penser à ces maîtres, ils n’en sont jamais des copies. À l’instar de ces derniers, ils sont tout à fait possédés par leur musique. Si on peut y voir les influences, on n’a tout de même pas d’autre choix que de dire “ça sonne comme…The Parallax“.

The Parallax se disent d’ailleurs obsédés par la beauté de la musique, de l’univers et de l’infinité des possibilités. En elle seule, cette phrase résume ce que “Obliquity of the Ecliptic” est comme oeuvre. Définitivement à écouter, allez voir leur bandcamp où vous pouvez non seulement streamer le LP mais aussi télécharger leur album en formule “pay what you want“. - Patrick Graham

by Rick Jamm on OCTOBER 29, 2013 in REVIEWS

The Parallax is a four-piece progressive death metal band from Mississauga, Ontario. The ‘Obliquity of the Ecliptic’ is the debut full-length album, featuring 5 lengthy melodic tracks including the 23-minute song ‘The Reformatting’. The Parallax has had the opportunity to share the stage with Protest the Hero, The Agonist, and Intervals among many others.

“Obliquity of the Ecliptic” is a brilliant combination of technical proficiency and raw, straightforward, great songwriting. Extreme metal albums often suffer from having most of their songs centered on a similar theme. The result is a repetitive album that loses the interest of the listener. This album blows this convention away. There is a track here for any kind of metal music fan: the pounding power of “Summon the Tides” and “Seventeen”, the complex layers of the title track and the 23-minute long “The Reformatting”, plus the sinister grinding and churning of “The Wicked Shadows” makes sure the album stays fresh and never wilts.

Sorin Simion and the excellent Antonio Moriera provide The Parallax’s firestorm guitars in full force. The riffs are creative and powerful: you can almost smell the brimstone in each six-string assault. The two also provide an interesting contrast in their styles of lead guitar and soloing. Derek Joson’s drumming ability is nothing short of impeccable and together with Sean Deshenes precision bass they carry every track with relentless but artful percussion.

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Perhaps the best part of all is the voice of the mighty Moriera. His guttural roar here is matchless. Apart from being demonic and powerful, but easily understood at the same time, he also sings quite a few passages. Death metal vocals often just blend in with the music, their meaning inaudible, and their impact weak. In “Obliquity of the Ecliptic”, Moriera gives the voice a power of command above the music, and he lifts the whole album to inspiring triumph. His vocals have a surprising amount of variety and suit the music very well.

Here The Parallax create an undeniable statement of Death metal for all of the world to see. Many flag the death metal genre as one with endless carbon copies and talentless musicians just pounding away at their instruments. Those people have never heard this. The guitars create blistering solos, heavy riffs, and some great music between the ear crushing songs on this album. It should not be missed, if not for its great musicianship, then for its creativity.

“Obliquity of the Ecliptic”, represents a high water mark for The Parallax and is an indispensable piece in any true heavy music collection. This album is worthy of multiple listenings and never loses its luster! - JamSphere