“The Third Perspective” is a mindbender.
Possible influences and resemblances: The 5th Dimension, Mahavishnu, Devin Townsend, Slayer, and Dimmu Borgir. . . Musical styles touched: Jazz, Fuzion, Prog, Avant-Garde, New Age, R&B. The end result: frenetic, incongruous, Heavy, eccentric, baffling, fascinating. I spend much of the time listening wondering what the fuck is going on.

The default setting on their vocals is “brutal,” but the switches are frequent, and often jarring; most often they’re Akerfeldt-esque growls, bot sometimes Cobra Commander scratchiness, sometimes operatic from a female vocalist. Similarly, the drums default to Heavy, but sometimes the borderline blast beats make way for programmed shuffles and bossa nova-like rhythms.
This chaos is not necessarily a bad thing. At times, Azure Emote is more weird and interesting than satisfying, but this stuff truly is odd and supremely intriguing. I’ll take unsafe and perplexing any day over rote and “pretty good;” i.e.: challenging beats boring.
But yes, that means that this is not an easy walkthrough of a listen. Take track 3, “Dark Realms,” for example. It’s the first of the albums two epics (greater than 10 minutes), and on first listen, I hated hated hated its opening minutes. But then, as the song progressed through different tonalities and movements, I began to be lured in, finally accepting by the finish that overall, I’d enjoyed the tumultuous 10:42 of its playing time. This experience was not isolated to this song, and I think that “The Third Perspective’s” greatest strength could also prove its greatest weakness. I can’t imagine that many will love the album straight through, across every jarring shift and discordant blend of sounds. Most will pick and choose. Azure Emote’s core audience will be the ones who gloss by their unfavorable sections and who really connect with the majority. I was happiest during “Three Six Nine,” least happy during “Solitary Striving.”
Tribulations and vexations aside, I find “The Third Perspective” to be a compelling curio that I’ll want to pick up and examine and turn over in my hands to get other angles - - and yes - - other perspectives.