Playgrounded
The Death of Death

Playgrounded offers a red album, it is their third. It looks exciting, and it is called The Death of Death – interesting name. The band has been around for about a decade now and are based in Athens and Rotterdam, I read that they like to deconstruct and reconstruct, and that The Death of Death is about the unity in opposites. It is never a bad idea to deconstruct contradictory elements to find unifying parts, if we all did that we would most likely live in a better world. On the bandcamp site of the band we can read about these things and how The Death of Death plays like a movie soundtrack. A movie soundtrack can be both positive or negative considering that the music in a movie is supposed to enhance a visual element while a music album should be the centre of attention – so perhaps it is not the best way to describe an album, but perhaps they mean it like the music is telling a story.

It is an atmospheric album; post- or progressive metal is probably the best way to describe in terms of genre. It is like a story being told, from the opener The Swan that sets the dreamy tone all the way to Our Fire that ends it all in a logical way. The album has a good flow from start to end, the vocals are great for the style and the production excellent. They do appear a bit familiar, I draw parallels to bands I have reviewed before like The Ocean, Katatonia, LLNN, and many more, so they are not overly original, but they still give a rather fresh impression. I did however think that the hit single Tomorrow’s Rainbow was a cover song, but I can’t find any proof of that so it is probably just familiar in some regard. Besides mentioned song there are five more, so six tracks in total, and a playing time of around forty minutes which seems very sensible.

I like the dreamy atmospheres of this album; the starter song is quite great of setting the tone and draw your attention. Tomorrow’s Rainbow is a brilliant song that is the most memorable part of this album, a song that makes you want to return to the album. And you should want to return as it is a very attractive album, one that I probably will return to even after I have finished writing about it. I don’t find any flaws worth mentioning, the quintet has given us a great atmospheric album that can be played many times over. The depth and atmosphere also gives the album a longevity that most albums don’t have, and I would say that it has a rather timeless quality to it so it could still be relevant many years from now.

The Death of Death is certainly an album worth checking out, it has a lot to like. It presses the good buttons, and even though it may not be among the absolute best it is more than worth giving a few minutes of your time. Playgrounded has given us a dreamy and exciting album, I like it.

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