It's now time for our 184th monthly CD review on The Sault Metal Scene, but with another change of plans. Due to the comic book tied into Sykotyk Rampage's new album still not arriving, I'm bumping that one more month, so today, we're looking at Sault Michigan metal solo project X's & Y's' debut album "The Obsidian Dream"! Officially released on October 11th through the AFR Records imprint (also credited to the former Werehold Records on physical copies), X's & Y's is the current original metal project from former Life's Eclipse frontman and Swampghas guitarist (among other projects) Jason Mills, finally fulfilling long-held plans to release a paid physical CD. "The Obsidian Dream" has been in the works since at least 2019 at Scholomance Studios in Brimley, and features Jason on all instruments aside from guest appearances on two songs. Jason produced this album alongside local alt-rock musician, ex-Plastic frontman, and Crooked Music owner Zac Crook.
Mastering was done in Lansing by Mitchell "Mitch Michelle" Wells, who previously performed with Jason in the short lived project Shatterhand, and guests on "Houses" on an unexpected instrument. X's & Y's album is on sale on CD through Jason (contact him at this link) for $10 USD, and while it was carried at Crooked Music, the store is liquidating in advance of its closure later this week, so I wouldn't count on copies still being there. Digitally, the album can be streamed for free on YouTube Music, Amazon Music, and a handful of smaller streaming services, though not Spotify or Apple Music that I have found. With eight tracks running for about 41 minutes, let's begin this month's CD review!
"The Obsidian Dream" ominously leads off with "Just Above Under", whose droning intro and sudden spoken word interjection leads into a pounding industrial metal number with the distinctive guitar tone that Werehold loyalists will recall from their heyday! Jason delivers some nice melodic guitar passages in between the riffs, but I will admit that some of the backing sound effects and samples really feel out of place, especially what sounds like clanging pipes in the first half. Effectively brutal instrumental if you can get past the noises in the background! Next up is "A Flow Of Touch", which is a faster but more straightforward number accentuated by a somewhat trippier intro and more rapid drum beats, and crucially, much less in the way of background samples. Jason also lets loose with a more of a technical and complex solo, which is definitely welcomed! Solid track that is an improvement in terms of what I like out of metal, so we're moving up already!
Third on the CD is "Ursa Minor", which is more of a deliberately paced song that really shows off the bass more than anything else. For me, I prefer songs to be faster and heavier than this, let alone fuller, as the guitar really isn't prominent in this at all, but as a showcase of what Jason can do on the low end, it definitely succeeds! It's rare where local bands put bass on this high of a technical pedestal, and short of slapping it, he did as much as you could ask for! I would like to hear some guitar in the background, as it's kind of an empty song beyond the bass playing, but a definite curio for fans! The first half of the album is met with "Solid Glass", which is the only song on offer to run for under 4 minutes. Guitar is definitely back on this song, which is the most djenty (is that a word?) song yet, so progressive metal fans will want to sit up and take notice!
Still harbouring the distinctly tuned guitar sound of earlier tracks, the guitar playing alone makes this song recommendable, and while there are better showcases on the disc for proper guitar solos, I definitely appreciate Jason's technical skill set on this song, and the percussion is well timed throughout! Fifth on the album is "The Starving Rust", which opens up a very eerie and spacey intro before the metal is unleashed, and while bass is again a lead instrument like on "Ursa Minor",the song is fuller and feels more like a realized final product. The drawn out ending is way too reserved and spare for my liking, but until then, it's a solidly brutal track that bass fans won't want to miss! Sixth is "Houses", which features the aforementioned Mitch Michelle on mellotron (basically a keyboard using magnetic tape to play sampled notes). You can hear Mitch's involvement throughout this song, with the mellotron being used to create a very folk/bardcore sound.
Progressive rock fans will be very familiar with the mellotron, and with Jason largely backing Mitch up here, this definitely feels the most different of the songs on offer, but certainly not in a bad way. A casual listen that almost feels like a boat ride through the countryside (if a nighttime one in the medieval era), metal-or-bust fans may want to steer clear, but "Houses" is an intricate and well composed prog rock piece, and good on Mitch to get involved in this way! The penultimate (and last guest-less) song is "Oculus", and this is a full return to guitar and bass-laden metal, which is definitely welcomed! Not sure that the springy backing sound effects in the breakdown are necessary, but we get some good guitar work and more prominent bass action, and it comes together well, so this is a strong return to X's & Y's usual form! The album closes with its longest song, the almost 9 minutes-long "Never Left", which has lots of guests.
Described as "a song for Jeremy" in the liner notes, the Jeremy in question is Illinois-based guitarist Jeremy Belter, who is joined here by former Heavy Lies The Crown guitarist Ted Olson, Florida-based musician Thaddeus Mitchell, and French metal guitarist Dorian Pied. The amount of guests shows in how the guitar parts are layered and implemented, with the longer length letting everyone show their stuff, but if I didn't know going in that there were four guests, I may not have assumed that there was anything radically different beyond just being more technical. The spoken word samples late are well utilized though, and the guitar skill levels are clear as day! As things change a fair amount, it never gets boring across its long run-time, but I'm not sure if the ending rough guitar outro (which sounds like a jam room demo) adds to it or not. A fittingly grand closure to the album in any event, and hopefully a harbinger of more big things from Jason musically!
So, what are my final thoughts on X's & Y's' debut album? I'm just glad to see Jason finally get an album out after all these years, but even beyond that, this is a very good instrumental metal album that fans of progressive and technical metal will take to! His guitar and bass skills were on full display here, and his bass-led songs will be a particular revelation to fans who are so inclined! Myself, I liked the fuller, more aggressive and speedy songs, but nothing on here is bad, and if you're a fan of Sault Ontario's Convergence, you'll find a lot to like here, and even "Houses" worked for me for how unique and fitting it was at setting its mood! I didn't find that all of the background sound effects and samples worked very well, I did find that "Ursa Minor" could be quite empty, and I would be curious to hear vocals on some tracks, as Jason wasn't averse to having vocalists involved in his old Werehold Records bands in the 2000s and 2010s.
It's great to see new extreme metal of any kind coming out of the E.U.P. in the 2020s, and while just a solo project, hopefully this is the start of more big things to come from Jason, be it with further X's & Y's material or something else! If you like instrumental prog metal, do check them out and buy/stream "The Obsidian Dream" for yourself above! I hope you guys liked this month's CD review, and I'm hopeful that I'll get the comic book for Sykotyk Rampage's "Waerlogas Saga 1: Konfysion Of Fyck" so that I can finally give it a proper review next month, so stay tuned in any event for that and more news & notes as well! Thanks everyone!
