The Reticent is known to wallow deeply in the rough seas of mental disturbances. Already, On The Eve of a Goodbye got us a taste of suicidal urges brought to fruition and the aftermath experienced by those left with the living. The Oubliette broke the news about Alzheimer’s in intricate detail. And I could relate to that, given that I have been relentlessly exposed to both issues. Not first hand, mind you. I wouldn’t be writing reviews, else. But close enough to get a real taste of the inner workings of them.
The difficulty with both aforementioned records was always the urge to mix narration with the right amount of metal to forge an alloy with just the right texture. That quirk of The Reticent‘s songwriting spiel made listening to a record and digesting its contents a challenge. Somewhat of a quest to find out how high the pain level actually would get until you throw in the towel. But in the end, both former full-length albums got a pretty good rap. So, what’s it gonna be this time? please, The Reticent called their newest piece. And the record is – surprise – again about death and dying, or put more succinctly, suicide. Sigh. Pour that alloy, then!
Compared to The Oubliette, the quality of the Progressive Metal on offer is on the uptick. This newfound prowess leans brutally into Tech and Tech Death Metal with an affinity for bands such as Vvon Dogma I and their merciless approach to over-the-top tech. All of that wild gyrating around overly technical shreds, the panic attacks in djientology, and the frantic chugging often get fire support through the ostensive use of the vocoder to increase drama on the vocal front. Throw in a goodly portion of dissonance for good measure, and you get the picture. Put differently, for long stretches, please sounded like some otherworldly and brutalized reincarnation of Haken‘s smooth operatordom.
Tracks such as The Concealment (Those Who Don’t Want To Wake) or – again – The Chance (Those Who Let Go) contain some outstanding Progressive Metal. Those come with all the accoutrements the avid prog fan will flock to music halls for. On the other hand, the endless distractions of spoken rants of some 12 minutes in total length, boring interludes that lead to nowhere, and somewhat meandering incursions into some theory or other tore this piece apart. please exudes that disjointed look and feel that goes contrary to good flow. And flow is an essential ingredient of any great record.
The former two records finally managed to find that middle road, this (somewhat uneasy) cohabitation of top-level songsmithing and the spoken leads to egg everything on. Yet this time, the RMR crew caught the drift of an artist fueled by the urge to deliver important messaging. And in the heat of delivering that kind of wisdom, they somehow forgot to join everything at the proverbial hip.
So, you guessed it. In the end, the narration on please killed the cat. Whilst the often highly technical Progressive Metal on offer matches the better acts in the genre, the storyline got endlessly disrupted by disjointed soundbites, opinions freely expressed, and explanatory bits and pieces. And that is a pity. In other words, if you want to tell a story in so many words, then this is what you do. Audio podcasts exist for exactly that purpose.
If, however, you wish to rush your musical prowess to the forefront and tell the tale through twists and turns, fueled by your native prog instincts, then this is what we have records for. Monologues were forever uneasy distractions in any piece the RMR crew reviewed over the last years. If there are too many of them, minds will wander as the clutter starts to clog your ears and neurons. And this is what happened here.
So, please, don’t do that anymore.
Record Rating: 5/10 | Label: Generation Prog Records | Web: Official Band Site
Release Date: 13 November 2025