TRAGACANTH - THE NETHERLANDS

TRAGACANTH – THE JOURNEY OF A MAN – PEST  
This one is complex and involved. That the band is technical and reaches for something different and creative is obvious, but importantly this act is not about to ditch extremism and metal for the sake of attaining originality or individuality. Smart folk that they are they know that all that is available within the glorious gardens of metal. The Journey of A Man is brutal from start to finish, albeit garnished with Near Eastern and Oriental melodies and interludes, which occasionally seep into the song proper’s riffs as heard on Death: Journey’s End. The aforementioned closing track is the Led Zeppelin of death metal. The vocals are varied, but always brutal, the drummer blasts everything to beats and yet the band is interested in creating a concept and remaining firmly metallic. Tragacanth is not quite Desecravity with the former band having much cleaner production and expensive instrumentation, but the heaviness, technicality and madness of the Dutchmen reminds one of the Japanese act minus Oriental medlies. – Ali “The Metallian”