FISSURE OF RIDDLES is mixture of progressive metal and sludge metal. The band was born in December 2012. "Nemea" is the band's first full length album following to previous EPs "Stalactites" and "Clematti". The mixture of styles gives Fissure of Riddles a very distinct sound that I don't think I have experienced before.

"Glacial Retention" begins with deep guitar feedback that starts to grate on the nerves, but also has interesting melody in its own right. A nice deep bass riff kicks to rescue the song from the unnerving guitar. Then without warning the song flips from a sludge metal song into a progressive track. The vocals come in and remind me of monk throat singing with the way they mix in to the music. The song continues its progressive track until exploding into heavy sludge melodies again. Overall not a bad track but the different styles can be a little jarring.

The monster of the album "Flensing the Dragon" is over twelve minutes in length. This song starts out with the familiar guitar feedback, but this time accompanied with percussions. This doesn't last before it kicks into a heavy low metal song. The vocals are guttural and growling and match up with the music very nicely. The song drifts into a more progressive track as it continues on. Melodic guitar riffs and lighter drum beats accompany cleaner vocals halfway through the song. Towards the end it gives way back to the heaviness that the beginning was. This was an enjoyable song; however, I think the length of the song will turn a lot of people off to it.

"Paleozoic" is another long song clocking in at over eight minutes. This one starts out with a distorted bass riff with some guitar in the background. It is a good change up from the feedback beginnings of the other tracks. However, like the other songs I feel they let this part of the song trail on for a little to long, making a listener possibly give up on the song before they get to the meat of track. This song finally kicks into a nice metal riff and rough vocals. This song doesn't do what the other do and switch up styles abruptly throughout, but seems to incorporate the styles nicely together in the song.

"Grid your Lions" is exceptionally short for this album. It has the familiar feedback at the beginning but this time its accompanied by a very soft percussion beat. The feedback changes over to a more traditionally guitar riff as the percussion continues to beat in the background. This track has no vocals and is this for the duration of the song. Overall It wasn't bad I wished they had changed it up a little more and added a few more instruments. For and instrumental track it seemed pretty bland.

The band ends the album with "Hauling" which begins more progressive than any of the other songs on the album. The feedback guitar can still be heard but it is pushed to the back of the other sounds in the song. The vocals come in strong and fast almost over shadowed by the music that is taking center stage in this song.

I give the band props for what they are trying to accomplish. Anytime you try to take two very distinct sounds and mash them together is can work or fall flat. I think this attempt is somewhere in the middle. I enjoyed the album overall, but I think some of the sounds and tracks dragged on a little longer than they needed to. I could feel myself go from enjoyment to waiting for it to end with each song. I think the band has found a way to meld the two sounds, now they just need to clean it up a little. I look forward to seeing what they come up with in their next album.