{"id":22350,"date":"2025-08-25T14:51:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T14:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/22350\/"},"modified":"2025-08-25T14:51:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T14:51:10","slug":"visitant-rubidium-review-angry-metal-guy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/22350\/","title":{"rendered":"Visitant – Rubidium Review | Angry Metal Guy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"No matter if you\u2019re a seasoned band or new to the game, choosing the right pre-release track is critical when kicking off PR for a new album. And in a crowded music scene, where everyone is fighting to make their mark, the challenge is even greater: can you leave a lasting impression in the first few minutes to make me want to keep listening? Pensacola, Florida\u2019s Visitant<\/strong><\/strong> did just that with \u201cStarless,\u201d the first single from their debut album, Rubidium. Taylor Tidwell\u2019s (Unaligned<\/strong>) blackened riffing, the death-infused rhythms of drummer Anthony Lusk-Simone (Abiotic<\/strong>) and bassist Kilian Duarte (Abiotic<\/strong>, Scale the Summit<\/strong>), and the tormented shrieks of vocalist Chelsea Marrow (Voraath<\/strong>) grabbed me immediately, leading me to promptly snag the full promo from the bone pile. Intended to be a departure from the members\u2019 other projects, Rubidium offers a visceral and harrowing descent into a hellish, otherworldly state driven by profound loss and torment.<\/p>\n

Visitant<\/strong><\/strong> blends their tech-death roots with the classic symphonic black metal sound to craft Rubidium\u2019s spiritual aura. The record\u2019s haunting mood is immediately apparent on \u201cUnworldly,\u201d which opens with a sinister orchestral passage that quickly gives way to a vicious miasma of Marrow\u2019s icy rasps, Lusk-Simone\u2019s malevolent blasts and Tidwell\u2019s eerie leads. The progression is reminiscent of early Cradle of Filth<\/strong> and gets the album off to a strong start. The performances on Rubidium are solid across the board, with Visitant<\/strong><\/strong> skillfully blending technical precision with raw feel. The dynamic interplay between Tidwell\u2019s guitar and Lusk-Simone\u2019s drums create a stylish balance. The two frequently push and pull, creating a dialogue that feels synchronized but also spontaneous. Marrow\u2014who has lent her vocal talents to video games like Doom Eternal and Senua\u2019s Saga: Hellblade II\u2014contributes her versatility, conjuring vengeful spirits through an expressive s\u00e9ance of rasps and hoarse growls (\u201cFodder,\u201d \u201cStarless\u201d), Gojira<\/strong>-encrusted hymns (\u201cRubidium,\u201d \u201cBriars\u201d) and ethereal croons (\u201cMoon Bathe,\u201d \u201cEnvy\u2019s Lament\u201d). It\u2019s evident she has great range, but her sparse use of her striking cleans is disappointing and could have been a game-changer for the group\u2019s sound.<\/p>\n

Rubidium by Visitant<\/strong><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Rather than relying on the guitar to take center stage, Lusk-Simone\u2019s technical drumming drives Visitant<\/strong><\/strong>\u2019s eldritch sound with powerful, forward-moving energy. His precision blasts, acrobatic fills and progressive rhythms imbue Rubidium with an aural restlessness, balancing Tidwell\u2019s Opeth<\/strong>ian chords (\u201cRubidium,\u201d \u201cUnworldly\u201d) and moody refrains. This creative reversal of a common metal paradigm\u2014where guitars are the heart and soul\u2014allows Lusk-Simone\u2019s performance to shine. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the strongest three-song stretch\u2014from \u201cStarless\u201d to \u201cFodder\u201d\u2014which are defined by Tidwell\u2019s unnerving, bending milieus and proficient shredding that underpin Lusk-Simone\u2019s explosive kit work. Noteworthy highlights include Lusk-Simone\u2019s hard-hitting fills coupled with rapid-fire double bass and swing beats in \u201cFodder\u201d or the title track\u2019s memorable and heavy syncopated bridge where Lusk-Simone and Tidwell lock together perfectly before settling back into their respective roles.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

But odd production choices unexpectedly hold back Rubidium\u2019s strength. Despite Tidwell\u2019s memorable and astute riffs, and a high DR score, the production often buries the guitars too far back in the mix. Consequently, this makes Tidwell\u2019s playing feel muted and strips his guitar of its authority. I had to almost max out the mid-range EQ on my headphones to really hear Tidwell\u2019s guitar work on tracks like \u201cBriars\u201d and \u201cOtherworldly\u201d\u2014a frustrating outcome that\u2019s impossible to overlook. At just thirty-two minutes, Rubidium also feels short, a feeling amplified by its closing instrumental, \u201cMoon Bathe.\u201d While the interlude has promising ideas and an interesting exotic flair, it\u2019s over too quickly and feels underdeveloped.<\/p>\n

Rubidium left me with a sense of anticipation rather than satisfaction, feeling less like a complete body of work and more like an intriguing blueprint for what\u2019s to come. Still, when Visitant<\/strong><\/strong>\u2019s talents align\u2014as they do on the album\u2019s strongest tracks\u2014the result is an unsettling and convincing blend of technicality and raw emotion. There\u2019s no shortage of quality performances, and Rubidium has all the ingredients for a gripping album. By further refining their approach and leaning into their more bespoke qualities, Visitant<\/strong><\/strong> is poised to deliver an album that builds on the considerable promise of this debut.<\/p>\n

Rating:<\/strong> Mixed
DR:<\/strong> 9 | Format Reviewed:<\/strong> 320 kb\/s mp3
Label:<\/strong> Exitus Stratagem Records<\/a>
Websites:<\/strong> visitant1.bandcamp.com<\/a> | facebook.com\/visitantband<\/a>
Releases Worldwide:<\/strong> August 22nd, 2025<\/p>\n

\n\tGive in to Your Anger:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"No matter if you\u2019re a seasoned band or new to the game, choosing the right pre-release track is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22351,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[264],"tags":[7738,1135,13459,19147,7278,7740,12055,19148,7281,18,117,19149,15283,19,17,337,15284,1142,1143,19150,19151,19152,19153,19154],"class_list":{"0":"post-22350","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-2-5","9":"tag-1135","10":"tag-abiotic","11":"tag-american-metal-metal","12":"tag-aug25","13":"tag-black-metal","14":"tag-blackened-death-metal","15":"tag-cradle-of-filth","16":"tag-death-metal","17":"tag-eire","18":"tag-entertainment","19":"tag-exitus-stratagem-records","20":"tag-gojira","21":"tag-ie","22":"tag-ireland","23":"tag-music","24":"tag-opeth","25":"tag-review","26":"tag-reviews","27":"tag-rubidium","28":"tag-scale-the-summit","29":"tag-unaligned","30":"tag-visitant","31":"tag-voraath"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}