Time to date myself. Back in the 1980’s, I was fortunate enough to run my own disc jockey business, performing at local dances, weddings, and parties. Between that job and after school work in a cafeteria, I had decent income to fuel any of my interests and still bank away money for the future. I would devour any magazine related to metal I could- listen to any specialty radio show worth checking out, and keep up on the burgeoning scene in video on MTV.
As a result, I took a lot of chances on metal. If covers seemed cool, or tag lines in reviews / advertisements, I’d give the band a shot. That’s where my discovery of German progressive, avant-garde / thrash band Mekong Delta came in – I bought their debut self-titled album released in 1987 on tape purely based on the sci-fi meets horror theme cover art. Since I love bands on the outer fringes of experimentation at the time, it met to my liking.
Fast forward to 2014, and Mekong Delta return for 11th studio album in the 7 song In a Mirror Darkly. The band is still progressive, intricate, and yet spacey all at the same time. The rhythms can be propulsive, relentless, sending your headspace into suspenseful outer realms. The songwriting transports you to mystical, magical places – sometimes with orchestration and atmospheric ambiance on the decorative “The Silver in Gods Eye”, other times aggressive and unrelenting such as the Voivod-ish “Mutant Messiah”.
The quintet put on a musical clinic in terms of synchronicity and knowing when to lay back on certain aspects of a song or when to just push the emotional pedal to the metal and make the hairs stand up on edge. Drummer Alex Landenberg (Luca Turilli’s Rhapsody) and vocalist Martin LeMar (Angels Cry, Lalu) particularly shine during the verse sections of “The Armageddon Machine”- there’s this up and down melodic quality that works brilliant against the progressive/ clean riff choices. And for a change, it’s not merely the guitarist wielding impresario skills- bassist Ralf Hubert can lead the troops as ably as the axe work of Erik Adam H. Grösch.
Not for the meek or weak of heart, Mekong Delta pleases the progressive, left field metal head within me. Take the risk, reap the rewards.
Matt Coe, HMS
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