Abigail's Ghost - D_letion Review

Great (four stars out of five)

Abigail's Ghost debuted in 2007 and quickly received heaping praise for Selling Insincerity, though the comparisons to Porcupine Tree were brought up in nearly every mention of the band. This led many to wonder what the direction of the band would be: would they be known as a clone of Porcupine Tree, or an innovative band that took risks at every corner? With its second album, D_letion, the band steers far closer to the latter option, though some hints of Porcupine Tree remain. All comparisons aside, this is an extremely strong album--one that shines when it does take risks.

The opener on the album will connect most closely with Porcupine Tree, with a driving guitar riff and vocal melodies that would definitely fit right in on a Porcupine Tree album. However, the composition of the song and the lyrical approach are novel enough that you don't feel as if you've heard the song before, which is a defining quality of the band that allows its music to remain enjoyable even when it sounds very close to a Porcupine Tree song.

But these moments are far overshadowed by those in which the band shakes the Porcupine Tree sound and crafts wholly original and incredibly enjoyable songs. Much of these come in the latter part of the album, beginning with the fantastic "Gemini Man," which tells a fantastic story while remaining poetic. Musically, it's a slower tune with somewhat sparse instrumentation, but it's atmospheric feel helps it stand out. The next track, "Sneak Peek," takes the atmosphere to an even higher level, with a piano focus that sounds like it would fit right in at a smoky jazz club. The track works wonderfully for these musicians: it allows vocalist Joshua Theriot to explore a different vocal style, and he does it with tons of class. Furthermore, all of the instrumentalists go a wonderful job of fitting right in with that sound. One last mention must go to the haunting "Easy A," which gets kudos both for its choice of subject matter (a teacher/student affair--never heard a song quite like it) and its incredible feel, which fits absolutely perfectly with the story. It's yet another one that allows the band to tread in new territory, and it's a complete success.

There are those songs that don't stand out quite as much, though. "Black Lace" has one of the weaker verses on the album, though it does pick up quite a bit in the chorus. Conversely, "Romantique Life" has a fantastic verse but a less-exciting chorus. I'd also say that those songs that have somewhat stronger Porcupine Tree vibes are somewhat less exciting, but the fact is that they're still great.

In all, this is an album that succeeds when it surprises the listener. Overall, I feel that it's a stronger effort than Selling Insincerity for that exact reason: it offers more instances in which the listeners are likely to sit back and marvel at the ways that the band has risen above the comparisons and offered something brand new. Still, I can't help but believe that we still haven't seen everything that this band can do. The best is yet to come, and I can't wait to see what Abigail's Ghost does next. For now, this is an album that you definitely want to pick up, as there's no doubt that you'll get some great songs.

Andrew Kauz
www.progressivemelodies.com

This Week's Featured Album: Explorers Club - Raising the Mammoth

Progressive rock is often criticized for its excess, and those who make such claims should steer far, far away from this release. The others among us may find a lot to like about this release, which is filled to the brim with incredible musicians, including Marty Friedman, Steve Walsh, Kerry Livgren, and so on.

Musically, it's easy to tell what you'll be getting when looking at the tracklisting: you have two songs (broken up into somewhat more manageable sections) that make up the entire disc. Furthermore, there aren't a lot of surprises for those well-versed in prog since the 70s. Nevertheless, it's a disc that those who enjoy huge progressive projects will certainly want to check out. Samples on the right will help you with that.

Redemption's Snowfall On Judgment Day Gets Release Date, Trailer

InsideOut Music today announced the release date of Redemption's upcoming album Snowfall on Judgment Day. The album is set to be released on September 28th in Europe and September 29th in North America. The album has been described as containing some of the heaviest and quietest moments that the band has ever created. In addition, Dream Theater's James LaBrie is featured on the album--that guy never stops working.

In fact, you can hear some of these moments in the band's teaser trailer for the new album, which is up on YouTube now. I'll embed the video below for you all.

EDIT: Embedding isn't working so well at the moment, so here's a direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLhbUWeGlZc

Things are sounding good so far! Look for a review nearer to release date.

This Week's Featured Album: IQ - Subterranea

After reviewing IQ's most recent release, Frequency, I've been thinking a lot about the band's back catalog. In essence, they've got a great set of albums, and anyone who enjoyed the last album should check out the band's past work as well--in particular, the great double disc album Subterranea.

The album offers a ton of great music, which has often been called the band's best. It's certainly one of IQ's most creative albums, with myriad sounds and song structures. There are songs lasting only a minute, and tracks with much, much longer running times. Basically, the album does a great job of filling the two discs with music that, even after that last disc has concluded, leaves you wanting more.

Be sure to check out the samples in the widget on the right (which was actually never broken. Warning to Adblock Plus users--the widget gets blocked automatically).

Dream Theater - Black Clouds and Silver Linings Review

Good (three stars out of five)

Keeping in line with that band's "one album every two years" schedule, 2009 sees the release of Dream Theater's tenth studio album, Black Clouds and Silver Linings. Made up of six tracks, running for about 75 minutes, and containing a cover that is quite reminiscent of some of the band's earlier albums, there has been quite a bit of speculation about how this album would turn out. Some hoped it would be a return to the more original and more progressive sound of those albums. For the most part, it isn't. Instead, it's a more commercial release in line with 2007's Systematic Chaos, taking pages from other bands who have enjoyed more wide recognition. Though this seems to be working in the band's favor, it does come at the expense of great, innovative music.

The overall sound on this album can, for the most part, be described in three ways. Most songs make use of the new tricks that the band employed for Systematic Chaos, such as Mike Portnoy's occasional attempts at growls, as well as a more straightforward metal sound. At times, hints of Octavarium's sound can be heard, with a focus on Rudess's keyboard playing and extended instrumental breaks. Then there's the Rush influence, which is especially prevalent on the last two tracks. In a nutshell, this is the album. However, the songs largely fail to excite due to some weak songwriting and lack of innovation; the band seems content to imitate other bands in order to evolve rather than to truly experiment with new sounds. Some disappointing lyrics don't help things, either.

The opening track, "A Nightmare to Remember," tells the story of a terrible car accident from John Petrucci's childhood. The lyrics are incredibly straightforward and predictable, leaving the poetry out in favor of storytelling. For most of the track, you'll hear some of the strongest songwriting and playing on the album, but the main issue is that the song feels somewhat disjointed. The first section of the song is a fast and heavy assault with some great drumming from Portnoy. LaBrie offers some harsh vocals in this section, giving his delivery a good helping of grit. The main issue comes near the end of the track when Portnoy tries his growling vocals. They just don't work. Portnoy's not a great vocalist to begin with, which is a necessary component of good growls. The first part of his vocal section is more akin to the rap-rock grunts employed by nu-metal bands of the 90's such as Limp Bizkit. In addition, it's odd that the lyrics in his section make up the "happy ending" of the story, yet the vocal delivery is the most aggressive on the track. The section is just laughably bad, and it really mars an otherwise strong track.

"A Rite of Passage" is the first track that the band's record label, Roadrunner, released on its website before the album's release date, so you've likely already heard it and formed your opinions about it. Upon repeated listens, I've found myself getting bored with the track. The chorus is catchy, but it's too simplistic for its own good--you just feel like you've heard it all before. The verses are decent enough, but they fail to excite on repeated listens due to a fairly simple songwriting style. The song does contain some pretty decent solos, but they're more in the "too many notes" vein than really well-thought-out composition. Honestly, it sounds like it was written to be a single, with some solos thrown in to please fans of longer tracks. It's an enjoyable track, but it's not one that lends itself well to repeated listens, as there just isn't much original about it.

The album's third track, "Wither" is a shorter and slower tune that some have compared with "Vacant" from Train of Thought. I suppose this is as good of a comparison as any, but the track isn't quite as atmospheric as that one, instead just offering a pop-oriented ballad with the most simplistic song structure you could imagine, complete with a predictable bridge section and chord changes. Lyrically, the song is all about Petrucci's struggles with writer's block, and it does a decent job of describing this phenomenon in an original way, even if some of the lyrics are entirely predictable. Really, it's a very well-written pop song, and it's quite an enjoyable track. It's just unexciting.

"The Shattered Fortress" is the last of Mike Portnoy's entries into the "Twelve-step" suite and again shows Portnoy's propensity toward trying to growl. The opening vocals are again rather laughable, with LaBrie and Portnoy trading off vocal parts. Here, Portnoy is pseudo-growling single words, and the section suffers from the same problems present on "A Nightmare to Remember." There's also a rather long spoken section in the middle of the track that is processed to make the voice sound deeper, which both makes the words themselves hard to hear and breaks up the actual singing of the track. Otherwise, the many reprisals of past songs in this suite are nice to hear, and the original sections are strong instrumentally. All said, it's just another song that fails to excite.

"The Best of Times" is where the Rush influences really start to get in your face. The instrumentation would fit right in with Rush's Moving Pictures album, and even the vocal melodies sound fairly similar to Geddy Lee's style. The opening piano leads into a beautiful string section that eventually jumps into a section that, in many ways, sounds like Rush's "Spirit of Radio," only twice as fast. Once we reach the verse, Petrucci's chorus effects and chord choices have firmly cemented the Rush feel. Of course, there are touches of typical Dream Theater in there, especially when the track gets a bit heavier. Lyrically, this is probably the strongest of the album's tracks, as the song is written about Portnoy's father, who recently passed away due to cancer. In essence, it's a very personal tribute to their time together, and while it's not incredibly poetic, it does the job that it set out to do. All put, this is the strongest track on the album, but it still fails to offer the sort of originality that one would hope for.

The final track is a long one. "The Count of Tuscany," which also contains its fair share of Rush influences, clocks in at nearly twenty minutes. It's an extremely strange track lyrically, written about a incident when Petrucci met, well, a count in Tuscany. Apparently, the experience really freaked him out, as the main repeating theme of the track is all about how he thought he was going to die. It's just a really bizarre and somewhat ridiculous track lyrically, perhaps because the lyrics fail to get across just why this experience was so unsettling. Musically, it's yet another strong track that just doesn't do anything new or surprising.

Perhaps it's fitting that this album contains a track written about writer's block, as Dream Theater seems to be drawing all of its inspiration from what has already been done before. Whether it is imitating other bands from the history of prog or from more recent releases, one just gets the feeling that all of this territory has been explored before--and much better. The album doesn't have the songwriting strength and cohesion of "Scenes from a Memory," the incredible variety and originality of "Images and Words," or even the progressive and symphonic sound of "Octavarium." Does that mean it's a bad album? Not at all. There's more enjoyment to be found here than on Systematic Chaos, but the album still fails to reach the heights of past albums.

To me, Dream Theater seems to be in an identity crisis--wondering just which elements from other bands they can incorporate to widen their appeal. It's easy for a detached onlooker to sit back and try to direct the band, but I also realize that these guys want to make a career out of this. The accessibility of the current metal scene is the exact reason that I avoid it--it's simplistic and boring. As for Dream Theater, the band has become a tug-of-war that wants to keep its progressive fans who love intelligent and varied songwriting while appealing to those who just want thousands of notes and heaviness. However, it seems that Dream Theater is just becoming a jack of two trades, and a master of neither. It's a problem without an easy solution, but I genuinely hope that the band finds it.

Andrew Kauz
www.progressivemelodies.com

Delain - April Rain Review

Great (four stars out of five)

The second album from Dutch symphonic metal band Delain has been out since March on Roadrunner Records in many parts of the world, but it was recently picked up by Sensory Records for the US. As the cover suggests, the band is focused largely on the vocals of singer Charlotte Wessels with a backing full of crunchy guitars and symphonic strings. There are many similar bands out there--one could compare the band to Within Temptation, Nightwish, After Forever, and so on. However, Delain manages to set itself apart by simply doing everything better than the aforementioned bands.

The basic sound on this album is going to be pretty familiar to most people. The instrumentation is fairly heavy in the majority of the songs, as the distorted guitars play a central role in the direction of the songs. In addition, nearly every song is built around string sections that give the tracks a very full and rich sound. In essence, this is the very definition of symphonic metal, and the vocals from Charlotte Wessels only add to that categorization.

But what makes this band truly stand apart is, in fact, the vocals. Wessels has an absolutely stunning voice, managing to make every note that she sings sound perfect. Whether she's singing a soaring chorus with multiple layered vocal parts or a quiet, solitary section, her performances never fail to impress. For those bothered by accents, you'll be glad to know that hers rarely reveals itself--if you're not listening for it, you'll likely never notice it. This is easily one of the year's best vocal performances.

The songwriting and instrumentation are both very solid as well. This isn't a band that focuses on instrumental prowess--the songs are constructed to put the vocals at the center of the experience, so you aren't going to see extended solos or amazing instrumental feats. With that said, the instrumentation does a very good job of supporting the vocals, and those brief solos or instrumental breaks are quite good. The songwriting itself, especially in terms of the vocal melodies, is what listeners will be most impressed by. While the song structures don't stray from well-established territory, the songs manage to be very catchy without sounding unoriginal. The opening track, "April Rain," is especially impressive due to very strong verse and chorus melodies as well as a very rocking instrumental intro. The slow beginning to "Start Swimming" gives the album a bit more variety, and the penultimate track "I'll Reach You" has one of the albums strongest chorus melodies.

It's not a perfect album, however. A few of the songs contain guest vocal spots from a couple of male vocalists, and they simple pale in comparison to the fantastic performances of Wessels. Especially out of place is the growling section on the otherwise great "Virtue and Vice." The sound that the band has built just doesn't really have room for death vocals, especially since any moment spent featuring a different vocalist is one in which we don't get to hear Wessels's singing. The growling just feels gimmicky here. In addition, this is a very straightforard release--the running time is only about 45 minutes, and most songs are only about four minutes long. Thus, it may not have the lasting appeal that a deeper, more complex album does.

While it may not have the variety to turn it into a classic, April Rain is a great release from a band that has a firm direction. If you're a fan of this style of music, you'll absolutely love this album. The band is a benchmark for how to do this style of music right.

Andrew Kauz
www.progressivemelodies.com

This Week's Featured Album: Frameshift - Unweaving the Rainbow

There are dozens of James LaBrie-fronted projects out there. When it comes to progressive rock, he seems to be the vocalist of choice. A few years ago, LaBrie was selected for this project headed up by Henning Pauly, which offers a great set of songs inspired by the work of Richard Dawkins. Pauly puts forth his typical great instrumental performances with a slight electronic sound to them, while LaBrie offers solid performances all around. In addition, this album has the distinct honor of containing the best song ever written about seashells.

Check out those samples on the right.

Exivious - Exivious Review

Great (four stars out of five)

Billed as "fusionmetal," this self-titled instrumental album from the band Exivious, which features two members of Cynic, is meant to offer a mixture of jazz and metal in a way that has never been accomplished before. The nine tracks on this album offer a constant assault of varied rhythms and constant changes, making it an ideal album for those who love complex instrumentation. Though the album isn't always focused on creating memorable melodies and has a few problematic areas, it should nevertheless be quite appealing to fans of both jazz and metal.

The sound on this album is hard to describe, but fans of technical metal band Canvas Solaris may feel right at home listening to this album. Though the jazz influences are much more noticible on this record, the bands do share the hectic rhythm changes and general songwriting style. In essence, most songs (like most traditional jazz songs) aren't necessarily built around a driving melody, but instead have a constant progression throughout that rarely returns to territory that has already been explored. Because of that, these most certainly aren't the sorts of songs that will get stuck in your head, but that's not the point anyway.

As for the songs, many of them are very well done. The song that perhaps best succeeds in the band's goal is "Waves of Thought," which manages to balance the extreme complexity of the rhythms with a focus on guitar lines that seem to hide the complexity somewhat. The result is a track that is instantly enjoyable upon a first listen and becomes even more rewarding upon repeated listens. It also helps that the track has a ton of extreme changes, from spastic rhythms, slow, almost atmospheric passages, and sections with lead guitar parts that could be described as whimsical. The largely bass-focused beginning to "Embrace the Unknown" is a nice change of pace--also containing an extended guitar solo that I mistook for keyboards (it is, rather, "just a guitar with a million effects"), and the closing track "An Elusive Need" has some great work with harmonies throughout.

There are only a few points at which the album fails to impress. The third track, "Asurim," has some odd production choices in the middle section that get in the way of the listener's enjoyment of an otherwise strong song. Basically, the lead guitar has a heavy "broken tape deck" effect on it that perhaps goes a bit too far. Instead of giving it a unique sound, it just hides the notes that the guitar is actually playing. In addition, while the first part of the two-track "All That Surrounds" is a great, slower song that works perfectly where it is placed, the second part is perhaps too similar to the first, making it somewhat forgettable. It might have helped if this had been limited to one track or if the two had been placed together in the track listing.

Of course, these relatively minor points won't likely hurt someone's enjoyment of this album. In essence, a person's opinion of this album will largely be based on his or her love of complex instrumentation. This is, without a doubt, a musician's album, and the guitar players, bassists, and drummers of the world are going to be the ones who enjoy it the most. Nevertheless, it's definitely worth a listen for anyone who enjoys jazz or metal, or anyone who is curious about what those two sound like when they're combined skilfully.

Andrew Kauz
www.progressivemelodies.com

NOTE: The original text mistakenly stated that the band contained two ex-members of Cynic, while both Robin Zielhorst and Tymon remain members of Cynic.

Pathosray - Sunless Skies Review

Great (four stars out of five)

Pathosray crept quietly onto the progressive metal scene in 2007 with the release of its self-titled album. However, their arrival quickly led to plenty of buzz and many proclamations like "album of the year." Indeed, this full-length debut was the sort of album that you can get excited about--something with the power to revitalize the genre.

Sunless Skies is the followup to the band's debut, and with such large shoes to fill, it would be easy to feel disappointed with this album. Admittedly, that's exactly how I felt upon my first few listens. There are a number of reasons that someone could consider this an inferior album to the band's debut. For the most part, however, this is a very good album that most certainly deserves a spot in your library even if it fails to excite in the same way that the debut did.

Where the band's debut was a complex and extremely varied album, this one takes a more direct approach that has much more in common with melodic metal than the extremely heavy progressive metal of its predecessor. This is most easily seen in the way the songs are structured and in the instrumentation. The songs on Sunless Skies typically follow pretty conventional structures, staying within 4-5 minute songs that just don't contain the same great progressions that were present on the debut. Furthermore, the songwriting, in many cases, is closer to melodic metal bands. It's easy to notice a difference from the debut--the songs just don't sound as wildly original as tunes like "Strange Kind of Energy" and "Faded Crystal."

At this point, it may sound like I hate this album, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. The fantastic playing, especially on the guitars, is here in bunches. Furthermore, Marco Sandron gives another very good set of performances. There are plenty of great moments on the disc, from the powerful opener "Crown of Thorns" to the original opening instrumentation and great melodies on "Quantic Enigma." Indeed, perhaps the album's greatest asset is its vocal melodies, which are strong throughout. The chorus melody on "Sons of the Sunless Sky" will definitely make you take note.

The album does offer some great surprises as well that help it seem more varied. For instance, the latter half of the album offers some great female appearances from Klaaire and Silvia Marchesa. One such song, "The Coldest Lullaby," stands as one of my favorite tracks on the album, with a fantastic guitar line, multiple changes between heavy and slow, and the extended verse vocals by Klaaire.

What Pathosray has managed to do with this album is offer a very strong set of songs. There's room for fans of the first album to feel disappointed in the songwriting, which isn't quite as superb as it was on the band's previous album. Regardless, there's plenty about this album to love, and you'll soon forget about comparisons and enjoy the music.

Andrew Kauz
www.progressivemelodies.com

This Week's Featured Album: Suspyre - A Great Divide

I made no effort to hide the level to which I was impressed with Suspyre's last album, 2008's When Time Fades..., which earned an award for Best Instrumentation. The band's previous album, A Great Divide, is yet another fantastic set of songs. The use of the saxophone is perhaps even more pronounced on this record, and the songwriting, instrumentation, and vocals are consistently fantastic.

If you missed either this album or When Time Fades..., you'll want to check this band out as soon as possible. If you like even some bands that fall under the progressive metal label, you should find a lot to like about Suspyre. To make it even easier to find out for yourself, samples are over in the widget to the right.

This Week's Featured Album: Kaipa - Keyholder

Apologies for the lack of an update last Monday. The holiday threw me off completely.

There's no denying that Kaipa's Keyholder has one of the strangest album covers in history. But behind that cover is a very enjoyable set of songs from this long-running band featuring Roine Stolt and Ritual's Patrik Lundström. In addition, the album offers some great female vocals from Aleena Gibson. This 2003 disc contains some of the band's best work, such as the fantastic opener "Lifetime of a Journey," and the beautiful "Across the Big Uncertain."

Fans of The Flower Kings or Ritual should raturally check out all of Kapia's work, but any fans of progressive rock will likely find a lot to enjoy here. Check out the samples on the right side.

It Bites - The Tall Ships to See North American Release

Finally.

Thanks to ProgRock Records, the great new It Bites album The Tall Ships is at last being released in North America. According to the label, "The album will be released in early June 2009 and
available in stores on July 28, 2009 but is available for immediate pre-sale at a $2 discount."

The Tall Ships was one of my favorite albums of last year, and it's a must have for fans of It Bites, John Mitchell, or great melodic prog rock. You can jump straight to my review of The Tall Ships here. I definitely recommend this one for all of my North American friends who haven't had a chance to hear it yet!