MaYaN – Quarterpast (2011)

MaYaN is Epica’s mastermind Mark Jansen latest creation and with this band he expects to fulfill other creative needs he has outside of Epica. This band in paper has a very impressive line-up since for the CD recording we had Jeroen Paul Thesseling on bass guitar, Frank Schiphorst and Isaac Delahaye on guitars as well as many guest appearances by Simon Simons, Floor Jansen and Henning Basse.

If you are expecting another Epica / (early) After Forever album, please stay away from this release since Quarterpast is considerably different to what you have heard before. This release is more focused on progressive Death Metal sections with some symphonic elements, tons of diverse vocal lines, and some orchestral elements (very few). We also want to warn the listener that this release is definitely a grower, since it needs more than your average number of listens to fully be digested due to the richness of the music.

With dominating guitar riffs, “Symphony of Aggression” nicely opens this album with a brutal pace and commanding the listener’s attention. Mark’s growls are stronger and clearly stronger than with Epica (one can even say ‘manlier’). The combination of technical aspects and brutal elements is very well balanced and it never feels abused.

The usage of Floor’s and Simone’s vocals in this release is quite nice and provides a nice contrast between the harshness of the music and the sweetness of their vocals. They also almost never (some times they kind of do) sound like in After Forever or Epica respectively. Mark tried to offload some of the guitar duties to avoid sounding like Epica and I think MaYaN does a pretty good job at avoiding this.

“Mainstay of Society” has to be our favorite track of this release due to the vocal work and the contrasts between melodic sections and aggressive technical parts. Incidentally, in our opinion this track has a hybrid early Epica + After Forever feeling to it. If you want more traditional Death Metal stuff, “The Savage Massacre” will surely make you appreciate the contrast between aggression, musicality and intricate vocal lines. The same effect will happen with “War on Terror” but with more keyboard arrangements.

In general terms, Quarterpast is a very solid release from MaYaN, but it might be too complex for the average listener to fully digest (or have the patience to do it). For us, this release is a step forward into combining Progressive elements with traditional Death Metal antics and symphonic arrangements. The addition of multiple vocal styles and the guest appearances are just the icing on top of the cake. If MaYaN can figure out how to make their music style a bit more accessible, we will be talking about them for plenty of years to come.

Release: July 12th, 2011

Country: Netherlands