It’s been five years since the Austrian prog metal duo PEROPERO, now based in Berlin, released their debut album “Lizards”. could celebrate a furious debut. Since then, the band has quieted down a bit. Until now. Because with “Massive Tales of Doom” (Panta R+E) PEROPERO are back. And in a more than just impressive way.
That the duo Pero Pero musically follows his own path, has already been shown on his powerful 2017 debut. As for Julian Pajzs (guitar, vocals) and Valentin Schuster (drums), the two minds behind Pero Pero, made their program back then, was ProgMetal with a good dose of madness, which knew how to break with traditional musical conventions in a really exciting way. With “Massive Tales of Doom” is now the second act of the actually originating from jazz and at the Jazztrio Eddie Knowles musicians also playing together. And what can already be said after the first audio sample is that the duo actually managed to up the ante musically.
The new album is something more in everything. It sounds a lot harder and louder than the first work, the structures of the songs even more complex, the guitar riffs even more powerful and confused, the rhythm work in the beat even odder and more varied, the sound as a whole even more crazy and spacey, the content orientation – if not completely without humor – but more thoughtful and serious, the proportion of madness is screwed up a notch again. It’s as if there are always other greats of the harder musical gait in the songs Pero Pero pay a visit. At one point it’s the Swedish polyrhythm kings Meshuggahwhich resonate, on others the old ones Alice in Chainsthen again it becomes theatrical as in Devin Townsend, playful as in Dream Theater or completely insane like the early ones Genghis Tron.
What initially reads as hopeless chaos turns out to be the exact opposite on closer inspection, because Julian Pajzs and Valentin Schuster have really found a way to form something very homogeneous out of all the different elements, something that, despite all of them Turns constantly in the high-energy flow that carries everything and everyone along in the most positive sense.
In short, one can say that Pero Pero celebrate more than just a strong comeback with “Massive Tales of Doom”, the duo presents an album that ignites from the first second and that friends of hard progressive sounds will definitely enjoy.
Michael Ternai
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PeroPero live
06.04.23 Viper Room, Vienna (A)
04/08/23 Lichtspiel, Allentsteig (A)
05/20/23 ORWO House, Berlin (D)
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Links:
Pero Pero
PeroPero (Facebook)
PantaR+E