Tragacanth – Anthology Of The East (album review) ★★☆☆☆

The black death metal band Tragacanth from the Netherlands is a quite new band that originated in 2014. In December 2015 they released their debut full lenght album ‘Anthology Of The East’. The band members are all experienced musicians, so let’s find out what Tragacanth brings us.

This debut album is packed with 8 tracks of symphonic and melodic death black metal. The guitar riffs are very technical and filled with solos and harmony. The drums are progressive and grooving, but are also filled with tight double bass parts. The vocals are very good with screams combined with grunts. So, some nice ingredients to start with!

There’s one thing I musically don’t understand and that’s the use of the keyboards. In my opinion they use it to much and it sometimes sounds way to present. I wonder if they really needed it, because their music is already filled with melodic elements brought by the guitars. This album is clearly meant to be a mystical and musical journey, but that’s not my cup of tea as how they presented it. Everything is way to need and some elements are not in balance with the rest. Also the production misses a lot of rawness. On the other hand, I like the composing of the songs, because it is filled with variety.

You can hear that the musicians are experienced and know how to play. So my conclusion is that ‘Anthology Of The East’ brings you nice symphonic death black metal with a big dose of melodies, but in my opinion the production could done better and the keys are to much. Let’s wait for the second album!

Score: 6.3/10 ★★☆☆☆

Tracklist
1. Rebirth
2. The First Noble Truth
3. Birth Of A Goddess
4. The Gates Of Naraka
5. Kutayuddha
6. God Of Hell
7. Destroyer Of Worlds
8. Edimmu

More information
Tragacanth op PitKings
www.facebook.com/Tragacanth