The accessibility of music these days is remarkable. If anything, we take it for granted. Twenty years ago, would a person in England (this reviewer) have the means to discover a progressive post-metal band in Rochester, New York, unless they had a physical CD? Pâro did the sensible thing to notify Encyclopaedia Metallum of their upcoming release, which is where Scream Blast Repeat found it. On the evidence of their debut LP, it’ll be the last time this group need to rely on a database to spread the word. Sketches of an Unseen Realm is a majestic album.
The glow and vigour of opener, ‘The New Fire’, is apparent from the first note. A martial gallop powers it forward with imaginative guitar phrasing that always looks for melody through the distortion. The vocals are one dimensional in technique but expressive in the way the words rasp through the microphone in pain. This is a band that listen to shoegaze music as much as black metal. Fans of Dawn of Ouroboros should sit up and take notice.
Listen to the luscious arpeggios of ‘All Returns to Earth’ as the amp gain sizzles underneath. Are they using keyboards or their own backing harmonies to furnish the screams with choral vocals. Imagine Dinosaur Jr. given a makeover by American progressive black metallers, Amiensus. Perhaps the greatest achievement here is retaining the muscle of a metal band through the rhythm section of bass and drums. Pâro don’t do flamboyant riffs on side A of this record, and they don’t need to with the aggression coming from the three different vocalists in the band. ‘Waters of Life’ starts like Cocteau Twins in full contemplation mode before growling its way through the eighth note double-kick beats. Hark how the axemen alternate between heavy metal harmonising and working through the scales as if performing a folk ditty. Sudden modulations to faster tempos pull back with bass and drum combinations when you expect things to soar. This is a group that second-guess all your listening instincts. Even the doom parts focus on keyboard textures rather than guitars.
How much of this is metal? The high-tempo dynamics and aggression form the core of side A and will do nothing to alienate the listener. Substitute the sorrowful minor chord passages for power chords and tremolo rhythms in ‘Beneath the Unrelenting Sun’, and it’d be orthodox black metal. A crunch of palm-muted rhythms in flicker in the background here as the organ presets search for something as incandescent as the agitated mood. Side B is where the scenery changes. A rare use of harmonic minor scales in ‘Ascend (With Fire I Rise)’ lends it a darker mood of cruelty missing from every other song. Look no further if you want proof that Pâro can go sword-to-sword with the most sinister post-black metal bands. Its successor, ‘Ascend (With Fire I Rise)’, is just as furious. Play it back and ask yourself: is this worthy of Svalbard? The answer is yes. The occasional bone-headed chugging of the guitars is most welcome in this textured landscape.
Those living in Rochester, New York should treasure this band if they’re regulars on the live circuit. This music needs to be experienced live. Observe how the group navigate between fuzzy extreme metal thrashing and the death-doom gallows with ease in ‘Anchored’. Closing track, ‘Vision in Black’, will remind you of the black metal artists that branched off from Celtic Frost with an emphasis on horns and keyboards to enhance the darkness of the guitar phrasings.
What happened to Pâro during the evolution of this record? They started with lonely hearts and ended with bellies of fire as if transforming from alt rock experimenters to heavy metal warriors in the same album.
Kirk Houghton
Verdict
Release Date: 10/01/2026
Record Label: Self-released
Standout tracks: All Returns to Earth; Waters of Life; Ascend (With Fire I Rise)
Suggested Further Listening: Amiensus – Abreaction (2020), Dawn of Ouroboros – Velvet Incandescence (2023), Agriculture – The Spiritual Sound (2025)