I went into Road to I not really sure what to expect from prog metal. It's not every day you stumble upon something that feels like it’s both familiar and completely new at the same time. The thing about this album is, it doesn’t try too hard. It’s 32 minutes, quick but packed with stuff that makes you think.
I’ve got to say, the way the album shifts gears is the first thing that grabbed me. You get these soft, melancholic moments that almost feel too delicate to exist in the same space as the heavy, twisted riffs. But somehow, it works. It’s not jarring, not forced. It’s more like you’re walking through a maze where you can never predict what’s around the corner.
The guitar work here is sharp. It’s not flashy, though. It’s not showing off for the sake of showing off. Instead, it feels like every note is deliberate. Sometimes the guitar feels like it’s pushing the whole track forward, and sometimes it falls back to let other elements shine.
I wasn’t expecting much from the strings. But when they came in, it was... unexpected. Not overbearing, just this quiet, almost haunting layer that pulls everything together in the background. Then you’ve got this operatic touch every now and then, and I thought, “This could either make or break the song,” but no, it fits. It's weird, but it works, like when something shouldn’t belong in a story but ends up being the thing you remember most.
Now, the themes in this album…they're there, but in this way that feels like they don’t need to explain themselves. It’s not about force-feeding you these ideas of life, death, hope, and despair. It’s more like you hear it and just feel it. That’s something I really liked - there’s a lot of space for you to sit with the music and make your own connections, you know?
One downside I’ll mention is that sometimes I just wished it could linger a bit more. Some of the quieter sections are too short - just as they start to sink in, the song changes, and you’re off to the next thing. Maybe it’s just me wanting more of that mood, but I don’t know, I think it could have worked well if they’d stretched it out a bit more.
But overall, this is a really impressive debut. It doesn’t have that "I’m trying to prove myself" vibe, which I honestly think is hard to find in the prog scene. Avneya’s taken his time, and you can tell. It’s not a long listen, but it feels like you’ve gone somewhere by the end of it.