A band who strives to break the unwritten rules of music, is universally influenced, heavy, and perpetually progressive.

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Extremely aggressive tech metal from Boise, Idaho of all places. I would have never thought of Boise as a hotbed of anything, but they seem to be doing well in terms of underground music. My guitarist spent some time living there before moving to Maryland, I'm going to have to have her hear this out of principal.

Though this is rarely my style, this record kept me fascinated the entire time because of the utterly relentless, insane guitar work. There are mini solos and solo based riffs everywhere. The time changes in this are pretty out of this world as well. These guys could easily hold their own against most of the most well known tech acts. Where most bands would just mindlessly chug on low E (or probably low B for that matter), POTA injects random twists and turns almost every second, keeping you on your toes the whole time. Even really good riffs (such as the slow part of "Self Becomes Self" beginning at 2:17) are tossed aside seconds later with no notice. What's more is that the record is written so that each track flows straight into the next, so if you're paying attention to this, it gives you very little chance to catch your breath for half an hour.

This one is indeed a pretty daunting record to take in. The true test of this band however, would be seeing if they can pull it off live, which a quick Youtube search indicates that they do. Hats off to these guys.
~ Shostakovich (For StereoKiller)


http://www.stereokiller.com/newsreviews/article.cfm?Review=Portrait%20Of%20The%20Assassin-For%20Centuries&intarticleid=10464

http://www.youtube.com/user/Portraitofthe

http://www.stereokiller.com/PortraitoftheAssassin

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0050KD0GQ/ref=dm_sp_adp/276-7169714-3250932

http://www.myspace.com/portraitoftheassassin

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/portraitoftheassassin

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