METHODICA – The Silence Of Wisdom (2015)

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If you put together a band with the intention of producing gripping, intense progressive metal / neo prog, then one word I doubt you would use to describe it is methodical, so it feels a bit ironical for this Italian five piece to call themselves METHODICA.
So what about of the music on this, the band’s second album after six years of hard work?
Well, I’m pleased to say that there certainly is ‘method’ to “The Silence Of Wisdom“, but to describe it as ‘straight forward, careful and ordered’, would be to do the soaring keyboards, stinging guitars and passionate vocals on this album a complete disservice.

I’m not going to suggest that Methodica reinvent the prog metal wheel here, but their full on delivery and undoubted ability to write big, brash, memorable songs with complex themes and skilled musicianship means that this blend of Arena like neo-prog and more straight forward progressive metal is never dull.

Methodica is not your typical prog metal. It’s fine to put the band in this category as we have strong riffs and some intense instrumentation, but it isn’t aggressive. The guys go far beyond this because all is balanced by melodic vocal & keyboard passages, and at places the music is pretty light and ethereal.
This mix works like a charm turning Methodica’s arrangements really interesting.

“The Silence Of Wisdom” is a work full of nuances, clever melodies and rhythm changes contained in eight original tracks plus a cover to over an hour of really well crafted music that keeps you interested.
All is clear and pristine, yet powerful, with impact. To give you an idea, think a mix of Dream Theater, Arena, Porcupine Tree, Threshold, and even Queensryche.
Methodica have fun destroying the ‘song format’ maintaining a strong melodic matrix thanks to the crystalline voice of Massimo Piubelli and the elegant keyboard atmospheres. You have a precise rhythm section, while the edge is provided by the sharp guitar work of Marco Ciscato (also producer of the disc in his Industrial Studio).

The songs in “The Silence Of Wisdom” are made up of meandering, but never pointless sections that merge and mould into coherent songs, with themes being brought to the fore on numerous occasions, to hook you back into the ever shifting sounds.
The guitar of Ciscato bites and snarls its way through songs like the heavy ‘Destruction Of Idols’ and ‘J’, being offset by the unfettered keyboard melodies courtesy of Marco Baschera, who is a star across this whole album (providing some cool electronic sounds as well).

Piubelli brings a variety of influences to his style, with flashes of everyone from Rob Sowden (Arena), Ray Alder (Fates Warning) to James Dean Bradfield (Manic Street Preachers) springing to mind at different points on this disc. That may sound like an unusual mix, but what you can be assured of is that Piubelli possesses a richly melodic voice with bags of character and the ability to be as convincing belting out the words to ‘The Angel Lies Dying’, as he is reining things in on the softer ‘Only Blue’.
Rather pleasingly the rhythm section of Paolo Iemmi on bass and drummer Marco Piccoli keep things pretty straight forward, and while they do contain the chops to add little punches of colour, both keep themselves in check for the most part, allowing the songs to flourish in a more organic manner than many prog metal acts.

All the songs in “The Silence Of Wisdom” stand up to repeated listens, in fact, right now I am spinning this for the 3rd time in a row. The compositions are pretty long but it does not causes fatigue to your ears, all flow really nice. This is thanks to Methodica’s ability to balance power & melody in equal parts.
A proof of the band’s wide spectrum is the cover of Genesis’ “Firth Of Fifth” (listed a bonus track) done by the band with a neo prog feel blended with razor riffs that deserve an attentive listen.
It has to be noted that tracks 5 & 6 are only available on this physical CD version, absent in the digital. A shame because both are stupendous compositions.

Methodica’s 2nd album is pretty impressive. To hear a band use familiar progressive themes to come up with something reasonably fresh is heartening to say the least, and worthy of your attention.
Strongly Recommended.

01 – Ukiyo-E; Intro
02 – The Angel Lies Dying
03 – J
04 – Only Blue
05 – Caged
06 – The Lord Of Empy Spaces
07 – Destruction Of Idols
08 – Ukiyo-E
09 – Firth Of Fifth [Genesis cover] (Bonus Track)

Massimo Piubelli – vocals
Marco Ciscato – guitars
Marco Baschera – keyboards
Paolo Iemmi – bass
Marco Piccoli – drums
Marta Cicogna – guest vocals on 2
Gianluigi Scamperle – guest guitar solo

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itunes.apple.com/it/album/the-silence-of-wisdom/id1003713899
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