VELVET THUNDER

Perduratum is a new and exciting progressive metal outfit from Mexico which only formed in 2019 and this is the band’s first EP which is sure to stimulate much interest in them and serves to whet the appetite for the full debut album which, hopefully, will not be too far away.

The band started as a project put together by friends Ahijado (bass) and Diego Cholula (vocals) and they soon brought in James Ponce (guitar) and Aruh (drums) with Edgar Butanda (keyboards) completing the line-up. They had a collective love of progressive metal and, in particular, bands like Dream Theater, Symphony X, Kamelot, Leprous and Circus Maximus and much of these styles can be picked up on this EP.

There are four tracks with the first just being a short and gentle introductory keyboard instrumental before the record burst into life with the incredible and hard hitting ‘Assumption’. The guys are all great musicians with Ponce very much a devotee of the shredding style of John Petrucci and his riffing and soloing is obviously a huge part of the band sound. The band scores very highly too with the keyboards of Butanda and in this band the keyboards are every bit as important as the guitar and they swop solos in the same way that Blackmore and Lord did in Deep Purple. Butanda is similarly influenced by Jordan Rudness and in many ways they remind me a little of the impressive American band Artension and the incredible keyboard work of Vitalij Kuprij. The duo of Ahijado and Aruh are amazing together and provide a tight and complex base for Butanda and Ponce to, and there is no other word for it, amaze with their interplay. Add to this the soaring and imperious vocals of Diego Cholula who seems to be a magnificent combination of Geoff Tate, James LaBrie, Ray Alder and Russell Allen and he is a new and totally outstanding talent.

The timing of this EP is just 21-minutes but the impact is immense and I thoroughly expect Perduratum to sweep all before them, this is a band that is going to be simply huge and Exile’s Anthology is absolutely impeccable progressive metal that demands to be heard. The last two tracks are totally immersive epics and leave you breathless and wanting more.