Mother Of Millions – Magna Mater

For a while now Greek Metal scene, and Prog Metal in particular, has been, a very vibrant with lots of new interesting bands emerging. Some of them also managed to establish themselves amongst the most interesting European acts in the genre. And while we’re still waiting for the follow-up from Need, who’s last album Norchestrion: a song for the end is one of the strongest Prog Metal releases of the past decade, here is another Greek treat, the fourth album by Mother Of Millions entitled Magna Mater.

The new album marks the band’s first full-length releases since the band’s keyboardist Makis Tsamkosoglou passed away on stage. Apart from being the founding member of the band, Tsamkosoglou was also composer and, overall, an important part of this band.

Choosing to continue after such an event is tough, and doing so purposefully and profoundly is an even bigger mountain to climb. The band has decided to continue as a four-piece, which reminds of the decision Riverside took when their guitarist Piotr Grudziński passed back in 2016 . Since then, the band has welcomed his replacement Maciej Meller as a permanent member.

Magna Mater of course deals with loss, and it does so in a lyrically picturesque manner. It’s fairly direct yet with subtle qualities to it as well, which suits the mood of the album. Musically, the band continues down the path established on their previous releases, but it also looks forward, perhaps more so than they ever did before. At the same time, the music feels familiar, and the steps taken are more logical than radical.

This means that inspirations from the likes of Leprous, Pain Of Salvation, Tool and Devin Townsend still play a significant role. But it’s the band’s songwriting, arrangements and well as the intensity of the performance that gives the album its own identity.

The magic really happens in the dynamics between the different elements and how they work together for the better of the album as a whole. The result is an intense and sophisticated journey that at times get almost overwhelmingly emotional.

The band’s sense for detail is matched by their sense for the making details serve a purpose of the epic whole. This goes to just about all the aspects of this release, even the visual approach to album cover design and the videos.

Sonically this is a very well-produced record with basically flawless mixing all courtesy of hector.d. The razor-sharp punchy drums are matter of taste, and bit less processing on the vocals would give the performance even more of an emotional weight, not that it misses it. That being said, this is by far the best sounding record from Mother Of Millions.

Magna Mater is contemporary with an artistic vision which matches its emotional weight and as such it’s a masterclass in modern Prog Metal and an impeccable example of something outstanding arising from a tragedy.

www.motherofmillionsband.com