After an eight-year hiatus from the release of their debut album “Take Me To The Gallows,“ Professor Emeritus are back with their sophomore album “A Land Long Gone,” an album that showcases the band has taken the time to improve their skils. Even though the general anthemic mood is still the same, “A Land Long Gone” is musically more complex than its predecessor with many more intricate instrumental passages with more intricate vocal lines with the help of a female voice. Iron Maiden are still a constant presence in the songs, more especifically, in tracks as “Zosimos“ where the band makes some instrumental shifts that are aligned with the Metal titans. I just love the way the guitars double vocals the way they do here. Interestingly, album warmer “A Corpse’s Dream” took a totally different from the path leading the fan to a different direction. Being faster and more pungent, the track deceives the fan on the mood directives of the album.
I would like to, again, praise Esteban Julian Pena’s voice. The range and the quality of his voice are really things that stand out. Melodically it is perfect. In “A Land Long Gone,” Professor Emeritus add a more melancholic mood as in tracks as “Pragmatic Occlusion,” where the fan can feel the overwhelming sadness the guitars and vocals pass. “A Land Long Gone” is not a melancholic album, but melancholy plays a real important role in it. The long, and sad, guitar solo of “Hubris” tell this tale with perfection. Or, even, the saddened vocals of the nine-minute long “Kalopsia Caves,” that takes emotionally the fan by the guts in its long run. It is impossible not to get envolved with the mood. This track can be told to have two distinct moments; one of this overwhelming sadness, and, the other of a classical musical inspiration that softens the mood a little. Here the fan feels Iron Maiden‘s hard hand.
With “A Land Long Gone,” Professor Emeritus make a clear statement that is ‘We are here to stay.’ It is impressive how the band musically and lirically evolved in the long hiatus taken. It is an album that emotionally envolves the fan with its heavy hearted mood.
Professor Emeritus “A Land Long Gone” will be released on June 13th via No Remorse Records.
Track Listing:
1. A Corpse’s Dream
2. Zosimos
3. Passage
4. Pragmatic Occlusion
5. Defeater
6. Hubris
7. Conundrum
8. Kalopsia Caves
Watch “Zosimos” official music video here:
I’m just a lucky guy who has chosen metal to live with for a long time. Metal changed my life for good. It made me more confident and stronger. Metalheads are naturally far away from the mass mediocrity and don’t accept impostures from anybody else. Metal is more than music, it’s a life changing oportunity!