After their formation in 2014, Christos Kontoulis (vocals), Panagiotis Kottaras, Nikos Letsios (both guitars), Biller Perakis (bass) and Eleni Nota (drums), together the Greek progressive/atmospheric metal band Mask Of Prospero, released their debut EP in 2015. This debut EP is titled In Absence. Now, since April the 16th, there is a successor of In Absence. After releasing their debut EP, Mask Of Prospero now also have their debut full-length out. This album carries the title The Observatory and has been released via Symmetric Records.
Right from the beginning of the first track of The Observatory, Dust In The Sky, the ambient, dreamy atmosphere of the music pulls you into this album. Dust In The Sky also immediately starts building up some tension until the musicians of Mask Of Prospero start showing their heavier side.
Even before the heavier part of Dust In The Sky the clean vocals of Christos Kontoulis can be heard. These clean vocals sound pretty poppy, maybe a bit too much for some people, but in my opinion these vocals are, after some time getting used to it, perfectly fitting. In the heavier parts of Mask Of Prospero’s music these clean vocals are a bit more in the background, which makes it in its entirety very complete and intense. From the second track of this album, Drown In Grey, on it can be heard that Christos can also deliver some very nice growls, beside his clean vocals.
Each track on The Observatory changes between heavier, grooving djent-parts and more atmospheric, ambient parts, but all tracks are totally different from each other. Mask Of Prospero shows a lot of variation on this album. At most moments the ambient parts are continuing in the background during the heavier parts, making it all sound very smooth.
My personal favorites of The Observatory are the a bit more chaotic Frozen In Time, the ballad The Journey, in which you can also hear an acoustic guitar and a piano, the following track The Way Back Home, in which the tempo gets up again and in which the drums sound very deep and The Ignorance, in which the keyboard especially stands out during the heavier parts.
This all comes to an end with This Road Leads To Desolation, a perfect heavy-but-dreamy end of a very nice album, accompanied by a great guitar solo.
Mask Of Prospero delivered a very nice album with The Observatory, with a very intense atmosphere. In case you are a fan of progressive and/or atmospheric metal, you can’t miss The Observatory. But, to be honest, I would recommend at least checking this album once to everyone.
Hi!
I’m Tim van Velthuysen and I started DutchMetalManiac back in 2014. I’m 27 years old and I live in Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Of course, I like metal, but I can also appreciate other musical styles. However, metal is what I mostly listen to. I also like going to concerts, meeting with friends and watching movies (especially arthouse).