2006-04-03
These young Hungarians really impressed me with this – the band's first full length.
To surmise the band's music is to say they create an amalgam of complex prog metal with some power metal elements, fans of
Dream Theater, and, to a lesser extent –
Symphony X will probably enjoy this album, though it differs from both bands in quite a few ways.
Two things that jump into view the moment the album leaves its short intro behind and starts off with first track – “The Past Is Alive”, first – The sound, the album sound fantastic, one of the better production jobs I heard in a while, certainly a sound that would fit a band in a major label, another cookie point for the production is its aggressiveness, though its clearly prog metal, it does not shy away from heavy and crunchy guitars that make this sound aggressive as well, its prog METAL, not prog Rock.
Second is the high level is keyboards use, something I am not a big fan of most of them time, but I have to admit that Attila Tanczer's work is quite phenomenal, and that the album would probably be much lesser if it wasn’t for his complex, almost orchestral keyboard playing.
The second track is one of the finest here, again, its complex, but not as highly complex and elaborate as the opening track, the vocals are quite strong, a but throaty, none of that John Anderson whiny squeal that I detest, and that's a definite plus.
“The Colonists”, track 5 gets the band's prog juices flowing, long and laden with riffs and tempo changes, again, its impossible to put aside the Dream Theater comparisons, they do not have the same level of textured guitar work and hyper lead work, but the feel and sophistication is there.
Extra points go to the label for the quality feel of the album and the cover, as well, this is one band that progers will not want to miss, I don’t know about more simple minded, melodic metal fans, but if they're willing to stretch themselves a bit, they will probably enjoy this as well.
Alon Miasnikov
