Israeli Prog NEOLIA Shares The Riffs w/ New Playthrough "Rise And Fall" Off S/T Debut
L-R: Neolia Current Line Up - Tomer Mash (Bass), Yair Ben Shalom (Drums), Ben Reiss (Vocals), Guy Greenberg (Guitar), Inbar Davish (Guitar)
Photo Credit – Avi Veldman
Photo Edit by: Rana Sneider
Israel’s Neolia unleashed their debut self-titled album this past May. The album is an experimental, progressive slab of metal that fans have been flocking to local shows for. From the record's haunting melodies to its complex rhythms, every aspect of this full-length has been crafted with care and precision.
Yesterday, the band shared their latest playthrough from guitarist Guy Greenberg for the track "Rise and Fall", which kicks off with a heavy groove intro, but it breaks once the verse enters with a drum and bass-like pattern demonstrating the duality of the song as the energy stretches back and forth. Containing some odd signature rhythms and polyrhythmic components. It even leans into different genres becoming thought-provoking, alongside relatable, cathartic lyrics.
The band explains it further: “It was the first one of the first songs we wrote for the album. Its first draft was recorded with just an electric guitar as a very basic demo, but it had most of the original riffs. The next demo version that was crafted at Tomer’s home studio was already in its final form, but it had had tweaks done to it and other parts and elements added as well. It is directly related to the concept of the album and the struggles of day-to-day life but not only the common ones, and is based on a fictional story Tomer had written. The main character, Alex, tries his best to recreate his past as a raging prophet that leads the weak, bruised, and innocent to follow his path but he doesn’t succeed this time so he crawls back to the demons that comfort him in his depression.”
Watch the playthrough for “Rise and Fall” via its premiere on Technical Music Review HERE.
Musically, Neolia's self-titled album is a reflection of years of soaking up music of different genres from rock to pop to world music and whatnot. It’s a fusion of bits upon bits of pieces absorbed and processed and then spat out from a personal perspective. In its musical aspect, it’s rock and metal based, but with a twist of African, Latin, Jazz, and ambient that reaches the spectrum of high and low, tender, extreme, and crazy.
Recommended for fans of Protest The Hero, Coheed and Cambria, The Human Abstract, and Tool, Neolia's self-titled album was released on May 5th, 2023, and is available on https://neolia.bandcamp.com/album/neolia & Spotify.
Tracklist:
The Shed – 3:44
The Shed Outro – 0:52
Your Prophecy – 7:44
Dance of Violence – 7:10
Carried Away - 5:49
Carried Away Outro – 1:24
Karma – 4:09 ft. guest vocals Ran Yerushalmi
Karma Outro – 0:44
Day In Day Out – 11:06
Anchors – 7:14
Rise and Fall – 5:06
Blow the Leaves – 7:02
A Better Version of You – 4:53
Refahim – 8:00
Album Length: 74:57
Check out Neolia!