Artist description The Latvian quintet Neglected Fields play dark and technical death metal - although being death metal devotees, they nevertheless love to flirt with more exotic and daring ideas, but never leaving the boundaries of death metal. Their second and at this point the last CD "Mephisto Lettonica" was critically acclaimed all around Europe.

Music Style Technical and dark death metal

Similar Artists Atheist, Death, Dimmu Borgir

Artist History One of the best known metal acts from Baltic States, Neglected Fields rose out of the ashes of local bands in fall of 1995, with the initial line-up Sergey "Destruction" (vocals, guitars), Herman (guitars), Sergey (bass), Karlis (drums). The new band traveled to neighbouring country Estonia, where in Townhall Studio in Tallinn the first demo "Sansara" was recorded in spring of 1996, containing four tracks of intense technical death metal with a strong influence from Death, Cynic, Atheist and Carcass, and adding beautiful soprano co-leads from session vocalist Rasa. Thanks to successful promotional campaign, "Sansara" received multiple rave reviews in European metal press (Demo of the Month in Aardschock (The Netherlands), Extreme (Germany), Eternity (Germany), Vampiria (Italy)). The debut album "Synthinity" was recorded in August 1997 in legendary Finish Tico-Tico Studio, and released in June of 1998 in Europe and America by Eldethorn records, a subdivison of British Neat Metal records, and licenced for release in Japan by Pony Conyon. It should be mentioned that it was the first ever CD release by a Latvian metal band. It received favourable reviews - 80/100 in Aardschock, 8/10 in Greek Metal Hammer, 74/100 in Burrn. Soon after the CD saw the daylight, Neglected Fields started to gig extensively in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, opening for Cannibal Corpse and Dark Funeral in their hometown in front of 1100 fans, and also did a mini tour in Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria. Soon Neglected Fields became a five-piece by adding a keyboard player George. With the new line-up the band was signed to Italian Scarlet Records. Another legendary studio, this time Abyss, was chosen to record the eagerly awaited follow-up CD. "Mephisto Lettonica" was recorded with a help of Tommy Tagtgren and released through Scarlet Records in September of 2000. "Mephisto Lettonica" exceeded many expectations, also due to touches of black metal (courtesy of George's swirling keyboard licks) and was critically acclaimed (12/15 in Legacy, 9/10 in Metal Heart, 7/10 in Rock Hard, 4/4 in GrindZone, 5/6 in Metal Hammer Italy, 5/6 in Scream, 6/6 in Spark (Czech republic), 10/12 in Thrash 'Em All (Poland), 9/10 in M (Belarus). Lately the band has appeared in Brutal Assault 7 festival in Czech republic, alongside with Incantation, Tiamat, Callenish Circle, Ancient Rites, as well as opened for Dimmu Borgir, Destruction, Impaled Nazarene and gigging in Czech, German, Polish and Belarus clubs. Sadly, in November 2002, the long-time member Herman decided to pursue other musical directions. The band quickly recruited new guitarist Janis The inside sources claim the new tunes will continue the direction of "Mephisto...", while exploring some new territories - Sergey "Destruction" has promised the band will never abandon their dark technical death roots.

Group Members Sergey "Destruction" - guitars, vocals Sergey - 6-string bass, backing vocals George - keyboards Janis - guitars Karlis - drums

Albums Synthinity, Mephisto Lettonica

Press Reviews The second album of Latvian techno deathsters is graciously furious. The base of Atheist/Cynic influenced technical death metal (notable in their debut "Synthinity") is still visible, but now is enriched in many ways. Riffs got more melodic, keyboards were introduced, and the overall sound became busier and wealthier. The busy nature of the songs might cause problems to those who like streamlined in-your-face metal, but fans of music with a complex nature will be happy unraveling the multiple threads of the "Mephisto Lettonica" songs. All tracks are very powerful and focused, and "the more the better" approach works very well without sounding too eclectic or anything. The vocals are as harsh as any Gothenburg vikings or Carcass, and they well suite the intense musical foundation. "Mephisto Lettonica" crosses the worlds of technical death metal (Theory in Practice, Martyr) with atmospheric melodic extreme metal (Dark Tranquility), and if the result is not noteworthy, I don't know what is. [Edge Of Time magazine] They've moved toward the orchestral black metal sound of bands like Limbonic Art and Nokturnal Mortum by adding more prominent keyboards. The music is still heavily guitar dominated, and the riffs and vocals are still heavily Sentenced-influenced, but the keyboards temper the guitars and give the music a unique feel. The playing is generally quite good, though there are a few moments where things could be improved. The production is excellent: clear and powerful. The songs are generally interesting and inspired, and their core sound is dense and thick. The keyboards really add depth to their sound, not dominating the music, but expanding and filling it out. In addition, the album offers a moderate diversity of styles. The band occasionally strays away from their core sound to explore new territory, and most of these departures are successful, such as the vaguely Satriani-like instrumental "Presentiment". But this is a consistently heavy album, and the departures aren't radical enough to break its mood. Overall, this is a step in the right direction for the band, and I look forward to their next effort. [Chronicles Of Chaos] Recorded in Abyss studio, the album has immaculate sound. Played by five scholars in music, the music is excellent too. This was quite a surprise, here is technical death metal with orchestral moods and intelligent melody choices. The band is open about their sources of inspiration: Carcass, Death, Dimmu Borgir, Cynic, Atheist and Therion. That should give you an idea of how Neglected Fields sounds. Recommended listening for perfectionists and others. [Scream magazine] "Mephisto Lettonica" is the second album of this Baltic five-piece and presents a rather original style that is hard to be compared or labelled directly. A rough approach could be to call it a mixture of technical Death/Thrash in the vein of Cynic and Death and progressive stuff like Dream Theater... In some parts this sounds a bit like Children of Bodom as well, and I am also reminded of Carcass' Heartwork-era by some riffs and the voice - it's roughly the same vocal-style, but Jeff Walker did this much better I think. What else to say? The musicians here are able to handle their instruments damn well, and the sound comes from out of the Abyss. [Purgatory Of Grief] I like surprises! This band was a total surprise to me even though they have released some demos and one album before. This band originates from Riga in Latvia. Not a very well known metal country, but I think that we will have to get used to those areas producing many fine metal bands in the future. Neglected Fields plays some kind of melodic symphonic death metal. Comparisons can be made with for example Children Of Bodom and Carcass. But this is more weird and twisted! This is fast and furious death metal that shows excellent technical musicianship. The somewhat twisted sound probably comes from the great number of rhythm changes and synth parts that occurs throughout the album. The song structures are quite complex to say the least! The album was recorded and mixed in legendary Abyss Studios in Sweden, and of course the production is almost perfect. It seems to be hard to fail with Abyss… It is hard to point out some specific highlights of this album. The album is meant to be enjoyed as the album it is, with all the twisted and complex rhythm changes that steadily occurs. But I can highly recommend the songs The Human Abstract and Solar, two quite amazing tracks! This album is one of my favourites of this year, and I think that you ought to give it a chance too. I will give it a 10 for originality and a 9 for the song material. Together it becomes a well deserved 9.5...[Urkraft webzine]

Location Riga, n/a - Latvia

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