Usually, when I’m thinking of a very clean and uniform take on metal, I’m usually thinking of something along the lines of metalcore or even trying to find a sound that’s close to what you would find on the radio. I wouldn’t normally think to look much anywhere else to find something that’s incredibly accessible but squeaky clean in its production while still having a good enough crunch. Yet, it’s with progressive metal that I’ve found just such an album today and it’s with their debut that Articulus has made a great case for just that.

Whenever I listen to a new piece of material, I always do my best to stop myself from drawing comparisons between the band in question and another band simply because I don’t want any new bands to constantly live in the shadow of larger bands. But, upon listening to what Articulus has brought to the table here, I could not help but hear a much cleaner and sleeker version of Allegaeon across a good chunk of the album. That being said, “I” is an absolute far cry from a copy-cat for Allegaeon, but Articulus goes down a few of the same avenues that made me scared initially that I was just in for an Allegaeon knock off. But it was as the album progressed and I continued to see just what exactly Articulus could bring to the table, their own sound starting to break through that initial barrier of doubt that I had and it was after that when “I” really started to shine. This isn’t the type of progressive album where it’s super flashy or has a fuck ton of ultra-crazy guitarwork, but, instead, it’s all drawn out and packed with plenty of ups and downs, tremendous instruments that do their damnedest at every turn, a grand diversity that spices up all twelve tracks magnificently. Then it’s with their gripping vocals that “I” comes together as this quite lengthy album constantly shows us just what exactly Articulus has for us as a band and it’s so much more than what I first thought as I dove deeper into this promising debut.

I couldn’t have been any happier to have my initial expectations subverted, and it was by the end of “I” that I went through an album that I’m definitely going to have to revisit many times more. It’s with great talent and promise wielded expertly in each hand that Articulus showed me what a fool I was at the onset of their debut and its culmination is nothing short of applause-worthy.

“I” releases on November 1st!

LISTEN to an advanced track from “I” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Articulus on Facebook here.