In the spiraling maelstrom of Archeons’ latest cacophony, “Ballet Afterlife,” heavy strings court the eternal waltz between darkness and light. It’s as if a 2000s rock prom met at the crossroads to dance with Beelzebub himself, shrouded in a djent-metalcore tuxedo.
The guitarists Trey Swain and Krys Escobar intertwine their riffs like star-crossed lovers — edgy, complex, but with an urgency that belies little more than whispers of love lingering beyond one’s mortal coil. Chris Huff’s vocals traverse this underworldly saga with gusto; he croons, he growls, paying homage to each tortured soul within their Danse Macabre-inspired narrative.
Ryan Sebold on drums is literally beating back demons – or so it seems when you close your eyes and let his rhythms possess your feet. The narrative might be twisted—a love note inked in blood for an infernal rendezvous—but “Ballet Afterlife” spins you around so fast, by the time dawn lights up those musical horrors are bathed in an afterglow akin to tragic romance rather than frightful farewells.
As guitars duel in a climactic solo that could slice through purgatory itself, listeners find themselves rooting for love in hellfire’s embrace – nodding heads both out of rhythm appreciation and disbelief grappling with choices made at destiny’s fork. With melodies exhuming pacts better left unmade and echoes showing metal can have heart (even one throbbing from beneath the floorboards), Archeons remind us there’s beauty even where shadows loom largest – somewhere between life & death nether-neath our daily strife-torn lives lies…a ballet?
“Ballet Afterlife” is not just music: it’s a timeless travelogue scripted across sonic ley lines—mapping visceral emotion onto technical prowess—and daring its audience to follow along or forsake understanding completely amidst its relentless drive towards daybreak dissonance.
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