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Review: Pressure Points - The Island
Pressure Points
www.pressure-points.net
The Island

Label: Art Gates Records
Year released: 2023
Duration: 52:41
Tracks: 7
Genre: Progressive Metal

Rating:
4/5


Review online: May 13, 2023
Reviewed by: Luxi Lahtinen
Readers' Rating
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Rated 4/5 (80%) (4 Votes)
Review

I'm actually a bit familiar with Finnish progressive death metallers Pressure Points, for I heard the debut Remorses to Remember way back in 2010, but I never really followed them afterwards and have long forgotten whether or not I liked what I heard. Thankfully for me, these lads have released their third album, The Island, and it ended up on my desk recently, and I can say for certain that the years have been good to their sound.

My first thought when listening to this was that this is what Dream Theater would sound like if they had a death metal vocalist, and that's as about as good a description as you can get for this album. The songs are as complex and unorthodox as that would imply, so much so that it can be hard for numbskulls like me to fully grasp what's going on, and anyone who's not into prog likely won't have their mind with this release. Given time and patience, though, The Island opens itself up as a layered and satisfying release with rich musical texture, hard-hitting riffs, and top-notch clean and harsh vocals that often merge in perfect symbiosis. "The Night Inside" in particular is a first-rate song that hits me particularly hard, but every track is highly professional and entertaining, without any of the disjointed structures and overly showy playing that often gives me extra gray hairs in the morning. For anyone that likes progressive death metal that emphasizes the prog, this is an album to treasure.

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