THE OLD DEAD TREE – The Perpetual Motion

Hailing from France is a rather oddly named band called The Old Dead Tree … a name that brings images of foregone life, emptiness, gloom, and stagnation. Now pair that image with the album title, Perpetual Motion, words that indicate undying life, metamorphosis, and adventure, and it’s hard to know exactly what you’re in for with this band’s 2nd full length release.

As you may (or may not) have guessed, there are powerful elements of both lines of imagery within this album. There are the occasional death vocals alongside hauntingly eerie chants by the talented and multi-faceted vocalist (and guitarist) Manuel Munoz, whose accent makes him sound like an iron-deficient, blood-thirsty, tormented vampire apprentice when he’s not dropping down into his demon-incarnate growls, yet there are also methodically beautiful (yet heavy) musical passages that are indeed inspiring, if not outstanding.

Perpetual Motion is divided into 4 parts: the opening song “Out Of Breath,” followed by 3 sections –- “The Lost Boy,” “Down,” and “The Sad Fairytale” –- all of these section titles appear to be clearly aligned with the imagery that comes to mind when considering the connotations of the band’s The Old Dead Tree moniker. Each section, then, is comprised of several songs … songs that kind of all blend together, with no specific beginning or ending, like chapters written during the midstream of one’s life. Section 1 (4 songs) and Section 2 (5 songs) have a musically progressive/surreal feel to them, wrapped together alongside elements of a Death/Black Metal foundation, although no true commitment is made to any one genre. Section 3, however, comprised of only 2 songs, starts as the most aggressive of the lot (evidently a fairytale going awry caused an effervescence of hostility to brew up in the band!) before fading out softly via the last track, “This Is No Farewell.”

The genius of this release, however, can be found in its absolutely stellar production quality and in the unwavering mid and down-tempo song structures. The musicianship throughout the album, though solid, is really nothing stellar by today’s standards, but, as the saying goes, it’s not the size of the wand, but rather the amount of magic that can be found in the stick. The Old Dead Tree epitomize that notion. New drummer Foued Moukid does little that is eye opening individually, but the sound he generates from his kit should be bottled and made available to heavy rock bands everywhere. Guitar cohorts Munoz and Nicolas Chevrollier play some great (yet simple) riffs and chord patterns, both electrically and acoustically, that indeed are memorable, while Vincent Danhier’s bass play is as easy to pick out as any other instrument in the mix, making his positive presence prominent and ear-catching from start to finish.

Overall, all of the tracks are enjoyable, and appear to at least loosely tie into the themes of each of the 3 sections, although, due to the Progressive/Death Metal nature of this album, you’re probably not going to ever hear anything by The Old Dead Tree on your radio (other than on Metal Express Radio) any time soon … but rest assured, if you’re looking for some Atmospheric Mood Metal with a nice blend of several musical sub-genres, you could do a lot worse than to pick up a personal copy of this new The Old Dead Tree release. Definitely a good one to listen to alone with the lights out and headphones on … you just may hear something new every time you give it a spin!