From Bandcamp, “PIAH MATER, the Brazilian Progressive Death Metal duo, return from the blazing tropical gloom on their new album, “Under the Shadow of a Foreign Sun,” with two new members. Six years removed from their latest effort, the band picks up the broad brush of influences that gave their previous two albums a modest cult following and add new colors to the rusty canvas of the genre, aiming towards a landscape that stands as uniquely their own.” The album has six songs.

“As Islands Sink” is first. Following some soft vocals, the sound hits harder. It is just Progressive enough to register their high level of musicianship, but they don’t take it and run with it by creating ten different time signatures and shifts. I’m not sold on the harsh vocals just yet, but need to keep listening. As the song moves however, the sound expands to deeper depths, and the emotional side of the music comes through strongly. “Fallow Garden” is an eleven-minute beast. Again, the opener sound simply enough, but it quickly expands, and the harsh vocals are growing on me. At the flick of a switch, it turns angry and deadly. The cleans however keep melody high in the fold, and the saxophone notes are a surprise. They also do some exploration without varying too far off the path. “Macaw’s Lament” is a much shorter, three-minute song, of mostly clean guitars and it sort of putters along a bit indecisively.

 “In Fringes” begins with gentle vocal harmonies, but you know it will shift when there are dark clouds rolling in. From there however, the push and pull of harshness combines with grace, or the yin and yang if you will, work brilliantly with one another. “Terra Dois” has a darker quality to it. There is still a good deal of melody here, but it is tempered with harsh vocals. They lash out when you least expect them, and then they retreat again. This constant progression on the album keeps the listener engaged. “Canicula” closes the album, and it refers to the “dog days” of summer. It has gentle tones, the kind you might expect from this stretch of hot days. You sigh, grin, and bear it. It carries with it a sort of sadness though, the kind when you have done your fill yelling and it’s a quiet acceptance of things from there.

There is a lot of depth as well as many things to explore on the album. Their musicianship is excellent, and they put a lot of thought into the songwriting. I feel like they are only one or two big melodies away from a breakthrough album however, and I look forward to what they can do next.