Wow! This is unique.  Picture a band from Copenhagen that at times can sound like they are from Gothenburg and then other times where they sound like tech era Death.  For fans of Quo Vadis, and Arsis.  I get that.  Steve Di Giorgio plays bass on this.  Okay, I am intrigued.  I guess it was a good day taking chances on links in the office because this is a unique release.   This project is brainchild of the Vocalist/drummer Martin Haumann.  It is interesting that he was a live drummer for Myrkur.

Age of Solipsist kicks off with an acoustic intro to the track “Autumn”.  This track is unlike the rest of the album and has a melodic Swedish death vibe to it whereas the album progresses it get incredibly more technical. Check out the video to the track “We Don’t Agree”.  The tune is more representative of what the rest of the album sounds like.   I hear a combination of Atheist, Psycroptic and maybe even Martyr.  The guitar work of Fredrik Jensen is riff ear candy. I wonder if they play live if Haumann will continue with vocals.  He handles an incredible portion of the album.  “Curators of the World Scope” continues with the fretboard gymnastics and odd time signatures.  Vocally Haumann is going for the Daniel Mongrain, Chuck Schuldiner mid-range.  It should be mentioned as well that all metal world drummer Hannes Grossmann produced, mixed, and mastered this.

The title track, “Age of Solipsist” is a probably the most stripped-down straightforward tune on the album next to “Autumn”.   It almost has a rock and roll feel to it and creates some unique counter textures to other tracks on the album.  “At the Edge of a Dream” has one of the best intro grooves on the album.  I give these guys a lot of credit for varying the song writing from track to track as there is so much going on with it.  It is an incredibly ambitious debut full length.  “Blood Still Owed” is probably the thrashiest track on the album.  First impressions listening through this is there is some interesting influences on this as the album tends to bounce back between technical and straightforward throughout the album.

The closing track “Feel the Pain” continues to stick a simplistic groove there is a lot a bit of a chanty singy part here which I do not know if it is necessarily necessary but got to give them some credit for trying something different to end the album.  It is also interesting that the album on a bit of a slight drum solo to end it.  By the end of this I can appreciate the attempts to add multiple influences on this album but for my money if the whole album were along the lines of the second and third track on the album, I would be a bit more satisfied based on personal preference.  I hope that Mother of All continues to gel and work on future releases as I will be intrigued to see how many different styles they bring into their next project.  Worth a listen.

[Visit the band's website]

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