New Album "The Network" Out Now!
L-R - Derek Ho - Cello (live only), Matthew Logan - Drums, Violin II, Ellen Smith - Viola, Michelle Gao - Violin I, Kyle Hagen, Shawn Hillman - Guitar, Cello, Matthew Hannah - Keyboards
Photo Credit Jade Weekes
Canadian orchestral metal ensemble Opus Arise (ft. members of Svneatr, Thousand Arrows, Ysgaroth) released their sophomore album "The Network" on December 2nd. The cyberpunk concept record brings together classical strings and metal rhythms to create luscious soundscapes to dissonant chaos. To send listeners on a journey into their "Electric Jungle", they are sharing with fans a new visualizer for the track via its premiere on Metal-Rules HERE.
The band explains the storyline behind the track and the album:
"The plot of this album is a CyberPunk-inspired world. Research involving chord progressions that manipulate space and time. Our main character does research involving the Progressive Frequency Phenomenon. He has never found proof it existed, but his studies involved finding this evidence, as well as aiming to gain control of it. Many years into his research, he comes across the inner skepticism progression, and this is where his journey begins.
The "Electric Jungle" track is about the protagonist learning that character 1 is also from a different space time, and the electric jungle opening progression was the one he used in one of his compositions back in his time. When he played it for the first time after composing it in 1976, a wormhole brought him here as well. He didn't know what had happened, so he eventually accepted this as his fate and had given up hope of returning. He called it the electric jungle because of the scenery in the place they are in; there is lots of advanced circuitry, electronic billboards, holograms, etc. Now he has faith in the protagonist's research, it is their only hope of returning to their time space. After finding a network substation and stalking around, they notice several network users with their FOB-type holograms that immediately grant them access. The protagonist's knowledge of computer science has allowed him to steal the encoded digital lock from the unsuspecting users. All he has to do is turn the electronic data into combinations of frequencies and play it back in front of the substation."
Vancouver's Opus Arise's newest album, "The Network" teleports listeners into a cyberpunk world filled with neon lights and punctuated with progressive riffs. The eight-track record is just over forty minutes in length, it was produced and mastered by Maor Appelbaum; mixed by Ryan Shepard, and the album artwork was done by Daniel Reyes. The nine players on the album bring forth their skills on guitar, cello, bass, drums, violin, keyboards, viola, and contrabass in a sometimes collaborative effort, which is primarily composed and scored by Matthew Logan and Matthew Hannah. The writing and the recording have been in the works for some time, the drums were recorded in a mansion back in 2018 where the original rehearsal space was, and the same location was used to film the music videos for the singles "Reminiscence", "Change" and "Inner Skepticism".
"The Network" has a modern metal influence and different composers from their first album. It is best described as orchestral neo-classical instrumental progressive metal. Fans who enjoy Powerglove, Scale The Summit, and Animals As Leaders should be the first to dive into a futuristic world where one's existence is questioned.
"The Network" is available at Opusarise.bandcamp.com, Spotify.
Music Video - Inner Skepticism - https://youtu.be/MGW5MWi_F5g
Music Video - Reminiscence - https://youtu.be/9RCg0TOf9Bo
Music Video - Change - https://youtu.be/trkqH_Ye-3M
Track Listing:
1) Inner Skepticism - 5:50
2) Electric Jungle - 6:02
3) Antimatter - 3:22
4) Digital Soundscape - 4:38
5) Reminiscence - 5:21
6) Change - 5:23
7) Timeshift - 5:21
8) The Unanswered Question - 5:13
Album Length: 41:13
Album Band Lineup:
Shawn Hillman Guitar, Cello on "Digital Soundscape"
James Readman: Guitar
Daniel Carmago: Bass Guitar (Tracks 1-3, 5-7)
Matthew Logan: Drums, Violin II
Matthew Hannah: Keyboards
Michelle Gao: Violin I
Ellen Smith: Viola
Darrell Bennett: Cello
Kyle Hagen: Contrabass, Bass Guitar (Track 8)
For more info:
https://www.facebook.com/opusarise
https://www.instagram.com/opusarise
https://twitter.com/OpusArise
"An instrumental journey with a lot of charisma... Anyone who likes to think outside the box from time to time and likes instrumental music should definitely give "The Network" a try." - PowerMetal.de
"... this is great progressive music... the album is strongly recommended if you're open minded and you like your music to sound like a detailed and complex story. Great stuff!" - Metal Rules
"Sometimes there comes a prog metal act with something new or at least different than most others. And Opus Arise surely fits this description! Their songs are instrumental to begin with. But that's far from all." - Melodicnet
"A magnificent album, original, inventive and of great musicality." - Pierre Davidson - A Progressive Life - CFUZ 92.9 FM - Penticton, BC
""Inner Scepticism," shimmers through the linement of time and brings about an intricate braid." - The Median Man