Metal is at its best when it doesn’t quite neatly fit a certain subgenre. It makes it more difficult to market, sure, but it also accounts for the most satisfying listening experiences, because bands that don’t care about genre limitations tend to make more interesting songwriting choices. This is certainly the case for Assignment. Their new album ‘With the End Comes Silence’ proves that all you need for a great metal album is a bunch of strong melodies and a few song structures that aren’t immediately predictable. Oh yeah, having a singer as fantastic as Diego Valdez doesn’t hurt either.

Categorizing Assignment under the progressive power metal umbrella is close enough, as their music is more intricate than most power metal, though not quite as dazzlingly complex as a full-on progressive metal band would be. Assignment’s songs are generally built around a few good hooks, though there is a lot more going on than just those hooks. The songwriting is very adventurous rather than what most people would perceive as proggy. This combination of styles was fairly popular in the late nineties European metal underground, and it’s great that bands like Assignment still deliver albums this good in that style.

‘With the End Comes Silence’ is also more aggressive than most power-prog releases, and much of that comes from Valdez’ vocal performance. He is often referred to as the Argentinian Ronnie James Dio, though to my ears, calling him a more refined version of former Nightmare frontman Jo Amore is more accurate. Both of them have a gruffer sound than Dio at his most aggressive, but Valdez has a few more strings to his bow. How Valdez nimbly moves along with the dynamics of the title track, for instance, is very impressive. Assignment does actually sound like somewhat of a more complex version of an Amore-fronted Nightmare.

Apart from the theatrical title epic, the dramatic – and appropriately titled – closer ‘The Curtain Falls’, as well as the more melodic ‘Those Words’, which almost has an AOR-esque vibe, yet is far too heavy to warrant that moniker, are highlights. Opener ‘Fallen’ sets the mood for the album perfectly, while ‘The Tower’ feels the most traditionally proggy due to the piano parts that are somewhat reminiscent of Symphony X. ‘Nothing to Say’ is nice and heavy, though no less theatrical, while ‘Angel of Berlin’ expertly contrasts dense, heavy and ominous instrumental sections with more open bits for Valdez to sing over.

Ever since guitarist Goran Panić started building a more consistent line-up around himself, Assignment has just gotten better and better. ‘With the End Comes Silence’ might just be the best piece of evidence for that thus far. I genuinely wish there was more of this late nineties style progressive power metal that isn’t just melodic and fairly intricate, but also emotionally intense and aggressive when it needs to be. If that combination of factors doesn’t make a great metal album, I don’t know what does. All we can hope for that this is not the end, and silence is still a long way away.

Recommended tracks: ‘Those Words’, ‘Angel of Berlin’, ‘Nothing to Say’