Jester Majesty – Infinite Measure, Finite Existence
Release Date: 4th December 2025
Label: Xtreem Music
Bandcamp
Genre: Progressive Metal, Thrash.
FFO: Anacrusis, Coroner, Watchtower.
Review By: Malte Brigge
Guitarists Alessandro Gargivolo and Erymanthon Seth, veterans of the Italian scene in just about every genre, met up through their work in Alchemist, a Turin-based thrash outfit, and decided that what Turin, Italy and the world needed was more guitar-oriented metal on the progressive side of power—one look at that cover and you already know this. Jester Majesty was born, an EP (2024’s Plains of Heaven) released and, just in time for St Nicola, they gift you their first full-length, Infinite Measure, Finite Existence. One thing’s for sure: they’re not short of ideas.
Zero-Point Collapse lands with a thunderous forty-five second pounding that leaves you gasping at its sheer sonic weight. It’s enough to get excited about as it crescendos, then transitions a little awkwardly into Human vs. Machine and our first taste of Gargivolo’s vocals—emphasis on the plural. I can’t say how many vox layers there are, so just think “battalion”. Unfortunately, it’s a battalion of clones chant-barking the exact same thing at the exact same pitch. It’s initially powerful but soon gets smothered; even on the slowdown the emotional intent disappears under mounds of a single voice roaring in plurality. They adhere so strictly to limited melodies—vocals and guitar—as to quickly sound robotic or programmed, unable to offer any melodic flourish. You might take it as part of the theme of the album—creator vs created, manufactured metal vs flesh and blood, eternal war. But like such a war, it quickly exacts a heavy toll.
The relentlessness of the production may intend to capture the unceasing march of Terminator boots on human skulls. The guitars are densely layered, in the extreme fashion of Def Leppard gang-chorusing, which has the unfortunate effect of making them, ultimately, faceless. Clean picking (Echoes of π) loses its acoustic flavor, and even the most head-bobbing riffs (Dream Theater comes to mind more than once in their thick rhythmic approach, Watchtower in their nvtball shiftiness), with no peaks or valleys, start to sound synthetic. The tempo remains near-constant, and the jackhammer rhythms show little personality. It wasn’t until my fourth listen that I realized there are guitar solos on every song—the sound is so absolutely flat that solos don’t scream for your attention but slip past like a single flaw in a million-lines long computer code. Masquerade (The Algorithm) and A World in a Single Word have decent leads, but they’re so blanketed they slide past unnoticed unless you’re really paying attention. Even so, many solos are slightly entry-level and even a little sluggish at times.
Nothing stands out on this album except vapid production and an attention-deficit approach to writing. In the first minute of A World in a Single Word, for example, there are six different riffs and at least three time shifts (depending how you count). It’s enough to make your head spin, not in a “wow, Ma, ‘dja see that?” kind of way, but more like, “ow, Ma, make it stop!” The ideas aren’t bad, they just have no attitude or personality and don’t stick around long enough to be enjoyed. They don’t set up thematic developments and are never referred to again. Part of me admires that amount of creativity, but most of me bemoans the lack of structural integrity. Instead of being exciting, it gets boring, and it’s difficult to appreciate just how talented these two musicians really are. There are cool passages (Echoes of π, Married to the Master Plan), and some interesting vocal moments (Masquerade, Amphibian to Chameleon), but it’s so trained it becomes clinical, and the infinite but single-point layering sterilizes potential standout moments.
Infinite Measure, Finite Existence isn’t lacking in energy, so why doesn’t it feel energetic? The dense layering bulldozes distinguishing features, the weight of the production absolutely flattens anything interesting, and it sounds like they set a metronome at 160bpm (or so) and wrote the album as it clicked away. Jester Majesty are loaded with skill and ideas. With a powerful singer to challenge the melodies and add range to liven them up, and a drummer who could steer the songwriting process, reign in the best ideas and develop songs beyond riffs bolted together, Gargivolo and Seth have a chance at magnificence. As it is, Jester Majesty is interesting for a few minutes, then gets tiring, then boring. I’m going to keep an eye on them because something special is possible, and I hope they take this animatronic model and turn it into a flesh-and-blood band. I’d be so excited to see what that sounds like.
(2 / 5)
