Given the difference between artist and listener (though consumer might be the better term for the latter, as music is a product and should be judged accordingly), there is likely to be a discrepancy between what is thought of as "necessary". What the artist thinks is "necessary", the listener might regard as tedious filler that wastes time and drains the listening experience of either momentum or quality.
This is precisely the problem that I ran into while listening to Triptykon's new album Melana Chasmata.
In my estimation, about 20 minutes of the album could have been tossed into the recycle bin. Tracks 5-7 basically neuter the album and kill whatever momentum the first four tracks build. This is because "Aurorae" and "Demon Pact" go nowhere, and "In the Sleep of Death" commits the sins of being too long and too repetitive.
The first four tracks, and to a lesser extent the last two, are simply brilliant. They stand alongside the best of what the band previously offered on Eparistera Daimones.
Melana Chasmata is just a touch too long and doesn't have the ideas to support its girth. Even "Black Snow", a track that I consider a highlight, can be divisive due to excess lyrical repetition.
If this were the band's third or fourth album, I might be more forgiving as these issues would actually be codified into the band's "style". But this is merely the sophomore full-length from the band.
Also, since it was produced in-house by Tom G. Warrior and V. Santura, it's obvious that an objective ear, while needed, was missing.
All in all, Melana Chasmata is not a bad record. At the same time, it's not as good as some will claim. Three tracks can be skipped with no impact on the listening experience as a whole. That's a problem, but one that is easily remedied, either by shortening the next record or by bringing in more solid ideas that eschew repetition and instead crush skulls like the opener or "Breathing" do in spades.
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