Terrapin

Outrun The Sunlight

The album was published on mid December 2014. Ok, I know I'm a little late […]
By YngwieViking
April 8, 2015
Outrun The Sunlight - Terrapin album cover

The album was published on mid December 2014. Ok, I know I'm a little late on that particular one, so let's go; I'm pretty excited to help you discover this new instrumental pearl "Terrapin"!

OUTRUN THE SUNLIGHT is an instrumental Progressive Metal quintet from Chicago, Illinois, USA. The sound of this young band is quite atmospheric, and ambient ("Spirit") some would have call it Post-Metal as it includes some ethereal layers of synthetic textures (the longest track "The Pace of Glaciers") but "Terrapin" also contains some Groovy moments ("And Every Glance Given Has Only One Meaning"/"Stars in the Ocean"), down-tuned assaults, a few Djent elements ("Laughing With Such Abandon") and a fistfull of brutal parameters, with some incredible demanding assymetric patterns ("Where Every Word Spoken, Speaks") and some intelligent Melodic themes, that helps the music to keep its interest and its dynamics without falling into the boredom of most so-called Hyped Post-Metal stuff and its inertia!

They take ideas from everything in the artistic sphere, writing in an unlimited array of styles, combining all of those influences into the sound of "Terrapin", their second full length studio release, a three years in the making effort, in order to reinvent themselves as composers but also performers. They have developed a distinctive formula that seems to reach their goal!

Mastermind multi-instrumentalist/composer Austin Peters said "Our goal with this record was to create pieces that were dynamic, focused, and tie back to a common musical theme. At the same time, we wanted to push ourselves as musicians with forceful rhythms and odd timings"

There aren't many Modern Progressive Metal band that possess the will to be called artists and who are able to find a balanced equilibrium between a significant enough amount of hypnotics pace, mixed with some Mammoth-like heaviness and some sporadics burst of guitar Shredding - a very original patented mix of elusive and blistering moments, breaking all the stylistic rules to reach a new higher state of perception.

Their experimental focus was reinforced with the imaginative help of Alan Lightman's "Einstein's Dreams" book: "...an helpful tool in channeling visual metaphor into sonic metaphor, and many of the song titles are quotes from his work. Each illustration coincides with a song in the album and a chapter in Alan Lightman's book. Without concrete lyrics, there is room for more imagination, which is why we find such beauty in instrumental music...". I'm in perfect agreement with this quote.

Talking about metaphoric ; the turtle fossil design on the cover sleeve isn't the most representative element, indeed this prehistoric organism preserved in a petrified form isn't very in cohesion with the constant moving method and the modern approach of OUTRUN THE SUNLIGHT.

"Diminishment" is the first part of a tryptich sharing the same enveoppe, that is followed with "Permanence" and that conclude the album with the rightly titled "Achievement". The track "Diminishment" is on the more ferocious Metallic type and the climax on the darkest side, improving the ultra-hi-tech sound by pushing the intricacy at the maximum, the talented performances and the obvious technical ability of the virtuoso musicians involved here are confronted with almost bio-mechanism playing / inhuman pace and the whole drives your mind to created a sonic nightmare in a few dystopian soundscapes!

Of course, this not your every day easy-listening Joe Satriani clone, this an Hell of an unique experience, an ambitious sonic device crafted with some demanding intellectual accent and some ultra technical/synchronized intercourse. The best in this category since POMEGRANATE TIGER or ABNORMAL THOUGHT PATTERNS. For Open-minded Progsters, and lovers of musical curiosity only!

9 / 10

Almost Perfect

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"Terrapin" Track-listing:

 1. Laughing With Such Abandon
 2. Where Every Word Spoken, Speaks
 3. And Every Glance Given Has Only One Meaning
 4. Spirit
 5. Stars in the Ocean
 6. The Pace of Glaciers
 7. Diminishment
 8. Permanence
 9. Achievement

Outrun The Sunlight Lineup:

Austin Peters - Guitar
Cody McCarty - Guitar
Connor Grant - Bass
Pedro Villegas - Drums
Adrian Perez - Keyboards

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