Placid Art – Rainbow Destruction Process (2012)

Arriving all the way from Montenegro, today we have Placid Art and their very cool debut full-length release “Rainbow Destruction Process”. In this nine-track release the band delivers highly Atmospheric Death/Doom Metal with operatic female vocals and a very eerie vibe. With a down to the basics musical approach, this release reminded us of a more atmospheric version of Shape Of Despair and similar bands.

The opener “The Beginning of The Final Chapter” delivers a very theatrical sound with excellent string elements and dominating operatic vocals from Sonja Milicevic, the ‘classical’ side of the band’s sound. The same chilling atmosphere is carried over to the beginning of “In Silence… Of The Dark Dawn”, reminding us of the creepy vibe that Elend creates. A minor drawback is the programmed drums that sound mechanical and a bit ‘fake’, but the band makes up for this in atmospheric brilliance.

With haunting atmospheric passages, songs like “Psycho Path” and “Rainbow Destruction Process” greatly help the band define their unique and quite chilling sound. The riffing is quite solid as well and their direct guitar sound greatly enhances the band’s excellent Doom elements without the need for too much flair in this department. One of our favorite tracks is the slowly paced “Placid Art”, a song that reminds us of a Doomier version of Angizia.

Punishing the listener with a very mournful vibe, “On The Other Side” delivers solid and diverse vocal performances allowing the band to have richer sound. Another one of our favorites in this release is the more traditional and straightforward “Wrath Of The Sun” and its catchy riffing. Beautifully led by emotional female vocals, our favorite track of this release is the very solemn “Salvation is Thy Choice” where Sonja really shines with her natural and unique sounding voice.

Closing with the ritualistic sounding “The Ninth Circle”, Placid Art comes full circle with a very unique and chilling release. We can picture all fans of Atmospheric Death/Doom Metal raving about how great this release is. While the release is extremely awesome, the problems of having a two-member band is that some instruments sometimes get neglected and the drumming suffers a bit in this release. However, this element gets greatly obscured once the listener really gets into the bands atmosphere and overall musical abilities. We totally recommend any fan of the genre to pick up a copy of this excellent release and be prepared to be blown away.

Release: June 29th, 2012

Genre: Atmospheric Death/Doom Metal

Country: Montenegro