I am always trying to discover new bands, so when a collaborator on ProgArchives dropped me a note one day asking if I had heard of Auckland band The Pilgrim I knew I had to investigate further. He had kindly provided me with a link to their Bandcamp page, and I could see that they had released this album in 2016 and another earlier this year. So, I grabbed both and then attempted to contact the band, failing miserably. I searched for information on them online, but to no avail, and eventually decided that the bible of music.nz would be bound to have a listing for them, but again I was wrong. All I know for certain is that they are based in Auckland, but can’t be sure if it is a solo project or full band (I suspect the latter), have no idea how many people are involved. If they play gigs then I have been unable to find any record of it, haven’t been able to discover any reviews, and a search of Facebook proved fruitless.
All I can say with confidence is that this is an instrumental album, with song titles going from “Sun” all the way out to “Pluto”. They play a type of metal that is heavily influenced by mathcore, but there are also some progressive elements within it as well. That Meshuggah have had an influence is not in doubt, but they seem to be more like a melodic Protest The Hero in many ways. They do repeat riffs and melodies at time, and this provides a naïve innocence to what is happening. The bass sometimes takes the lead, with a strong use of plectrum that gives a hard edge to proceedings, while the guitars are often at the forefront. I found that I really enjoyed this, and find myself incredibly frustrated not to know any more about a local band. Well worth investigating, https://thepilgrim1.bandcamp.com
