While I liked ‘In A Mirror Darkly’ and Martin LeMar is my favorite Mekong Delta singer thus far, something had to change compositionally, simply because of the risk that bassist and composer Ralf Hubert could end up repeating himself. That change certainly happened on ‘Tales Of A Future Past’. The music is still easily recognizable as Mekong Delta, but there have been some changes that really make ‘Tales Of A Future Past’ stand out among Mekong Delta’s discography. The return of Theory In Practice guitarist Peter Lake may have had some effect on this, but Mekong Delta sounds more proggy than ever here.

Mekong Delta is generally classified as a progressive thrash metal band and while that is not too far off, it sort of sells them short. In terms of structure and arrangements Hubert’s compositions are heavily inspired by classical music, that of Russian Romantic composers such as Modest Mussorgsky and Dmitry Shostakovich in particular. And though those influences are still very much present on ‘Tales Of A Future Past’, it is also the closest Mekong Delta has ever sounded to traditional progressive metal. In addition, the album includes the most prominent use of synthesizers since 1994’s ‘Visions Fugitives’.

Fans of Mekong Delta’s core sound should not be worried, however. The synthesizers are far better used than on ‘Visions Fugitives’ and are mainly limited to the first two of the awesome instrumental ‘Landscape’ movements, of which there are four. There are still plenty of riffs that would not sound out of place on a relatively adventurous thrash metal album – the one-two punch of ‘Mindeater’ and ‘The Hollow Men’ are particularly forceful – and there are loads of speedy runs with Hubert’s bass and Lake’s guitar playing in unison. The adventurous compositions are just a little more dynamic this time around and there are notably more early Rush-isms.

As with any Mekong Delta album, the music is best experienced when listened to as a whole, but there are definitely some stand-out tracks. The aforementioned two tracks are powerful bursts of energy around the half-way mark, though ‘The Hollow Men’ also features some of the densest, most oddly-timed work on the record. ‘Mental Entropy’ is a very powerful opener, though surprisingly subdued in terms of tempo. LeMar really shines on the track. The following ‘A Colony Of Liar Men’ is a dark, brooding masterpiece of a track with an extremely strong build-up, possibly my personal highlight of the album.

In the end, my only minor complaint is that the album closes relatively weakly. It probably makes sense conceptually, but while ‘When All Hope Is Lost’ is a nice cinematic track, it kind of overstays its welcome. The acoustic ballad ‘A Farewell To Eternity’ would have worked better dynamically if it was placed earlier on the album and ‘Landscape 4 – Pleasant Ground’ is a great Isaac Albéniz composition that doesn’t quite work in a metal context. But apart from that, ‘Tales Of A Future Past’ is another excellent Mekong Delta album that fans of the band are sure to enjoy. It’s hard enough to come across such a listenable complex work played by virtuoso musicians exclusively these days.

Recommended tracks: ‘A Colony Of Liar Men’, ‘Mindeater’, ‘Landscape 3 – Inherent’, ‘The Hollow Men’