24th November 2021

Review: “Concordance” by Varius

While it has been done previously, most notably perhaps by DJentlemen Periphery with their record “Clear“, the concept that Varius have chosen for their sophomore EP “Concordance” remains a fascinating one. The Niagara Falls, Ontario based quartet who comprise Joel Tassillo (Bass), Joey Scaringi (Vocals), Vladimir Prokhorov (Drums) and Patrick Forlin (Guitar) have gone the route of allowing each member of the line up to bring their own song to the table to be worked on with each person playing the role producer for their own track. The intention is to allow the individual influences to bleed through into the material and create something more diverse that you might expect from a traditional song writing partnership…

After the release of their debut EP “The Great Tribulation” in 2019, sharing stages with bands like Beyond Creation has seen the Melodic Death Metal act broadening their horizons while being anchored some what by the caustic vocals of Scaringi. He offers the band multiple voices of Death Metal with low gutteral moments faced off by shriller screams during opening cut “Golden Crown” which sounds like Nekrogoblikon going Progressive Metal with virtuoso leads from Forlin. The EP is as lyrically diverse as it is socially with themes of fantasy, science fiction and horror interwoven together and reflecting like a shattered mirror on real life issues through them and while the eclectic “Concordance of the Legionfall” continues the same vibe as the opener with threads of continuity, somehow they’ve added almost Jazz like synths and Power Metal tinges to the melting pot. “Lament of Dissonance” then builds on those Power Metal inspirations while throwing it into something that builds dark and somewhat oppressive atmosphere but then as a marvelously quirky Jazz closing that sounds like it’s inspired by Les Claypool, reminding of the score to the Pink Panther film. Then you’ve got the sublimely and hilariously gorely “Gut Shoveler” that has some virtuoso guitar moments as it plays out. There is no doubting the talent here in terms of musicianship and it has to be said that “Concordance” is the kind of fun that sometimes goes missing from a genre that can take itself too seriously [7.5/10]

Track listing