Good (three stars out of five)
Innergy, the new album from (two of the original members of) Portugal's Forgotten Suns represents in more ways than one a departure from the band's previous sound. For one, with only two original members, including a replaced vocalist, the lineup of this quintet is almost completely different. Secondly, the album represents a huge step up in production quality thanks to the involvement of ProgRock Records. The final result is a strong album that is held back mostly by a few overly repetitious songs.
With Forgotten Suns, comparing the band's sound to other modern progressive metal bands is fairly easy. You can hear some Dream Theater in many of the songs, especially in some of the guitar and keyboard instrumentation; conversely, most of the songwriting doesn't stick too closely to the styles of Dream Theater, instead delving into multiple areas. Some songs have a somewhat straightforward prog metal sound, some sound a bit more like Metallica, while others seem to have a bit of a nu-metal leaning to the songwriting. When focusing on strong vocal melodies, the band definitely stands with the best of modern progressive metal. At times, though, melody takes a backseat in the songwriting, and the band begins to sound like a generic modern metal outfit.
The instrumentation here is easily the best part. The guitar parts here are great, whether they offer a somewhat simplistic but very powerful riff as on "Doppelganger" or fly at extreme shredded speeds as on "Outside In." The keyboards are also great, which reminded me quite a bit of early Dream Theater, especially during solos. There is some memorable instrumentation here, and you may find yourself focusing on the individual instrumental parts each time you listen.
The vocal parts are a bit of a mixed bag. Vocalist Nio Nunes has a voice that usually sounds fantastic in its midrange. His vocals on songs like "Racing the Hours" and the beginning of "News" sound quite good in general. However, Nio's voice doesn't sound nearly as good in the high notes. Those high notes occasionally sound a bit too shrill, as if they're being squeaked out rather than truly sung. In addition, the songwriting sometimes gets in the way of Nio's performances. For some reason, Nio's vocals are quite weak on one spot in the chorus of the final track "Mind Over Matter." The vocal harmony is very poorly done, and Nio's voice takes on a very uncharacteristic nasal sound. It's possible that one of the other band members provided vocals here, as all are listed as providing backing vocals. Whatever the case, it stands out as a weak vocal moment among many strong ones. Another example is on "Racing the Hours," which has a repeating vocal part that is simply too repetitive for its own good.
This leads into the album's largest flaw: repetitive songs. It's strange, as some of the longest songs are the least repetitive, while shorter songs don't really go anywhere. For example, the 10-minute "Outside In" has a fantastic progression to it, with no significant repetition to be found. However, the four-minute "Doppelganger" is extremely repetitive. It's the sort of song that's fantastic for about the first two minutes, at which point you've heard all that the song has to offer. It's a shame, as the song could have been one of the album's strongest had it offered a bit more for the listener to enjoy. Lastly, it's worth mentioning that Forgotten Suns greatly participates in one of progressive metal's worst current trends: spoken samples. There are a ton of them here, and they only detract from the music.
This is an album that I would stick clearly between good and great. As for the songs, they range from extremely good to not-so-enjoyable. But when the full package is considered--a cohesive album played from beginning to end--those missteps really stand out as significantly marring an otherwise great package. So while fans of progressive metal will most certainly find something to like here, it's hard to enjoy every moment of this album.
Andrew Kauz
www.progressivemelodies.com
With Forgotten Suns, comparing the band's sound to other modern progressive metal bands is fairly easy. You can hear some Dream Theater in many of the songs, especially in some of the guitar and keyboard instrumentation; conversely, most of the songwriting doesn't stick too closely to the styles of Dream Theater, instead delving into multiple areas. Some songs have a somewhat straightforward prog metal sound, some sound a bit more like Metallica, while others seem to have a bit of a nu-metal leaning to the songwriting. When focusing on strong vocal melodies, the band definitely stands with the best of modern progressive metal. At times, though, melody takes a backseat in the songwriting, and the band begins to sound like a generic modern metal outfit.
The instrumentation here is easily the best part. The guitar parts here are great, whether they offer a somewhat simplistic but very powerful riff as on "Doppelganger" or fly at extreme shredded speeds as on "Outside In." The keyboards are also great, which reminded me quite a bit of early Dream Theater, especially during solos. There is some memorable instrumentation here, and you may find yourself focusing on the individual instrumental parts each time you listen.
The vocal parts are a bit of a mixed bag. Vocalist Nio Nunes has a voice that usually sounds fantastic in its midrange. His vocals on songs like "Racing the Hours" and the beginning of "News" sound quite good in general. However, Nio's voice doesn't sound nearly as good in the high notes. Those high notes occasionally sound a bit too shrill, as if they're being squeaked out rather than truly sung. In addition, the songwriting sometimes gets in the way of Nio's performances. For some reason, Nio's vocals are quite weak on one spot in the chorus of the final track "Mind Over Matter." The vocal harmony is very poorly done, and Nio's voice takes on a very uncharacteristic nasal sound. It's possible that one of the other band members provided vocals here, as all are listed as providing backing vocals. Whatever the case, it stands out as a weak vocal moment among many strong ones. Another example is on "Racing the Hours," which has a repeating vocal part that is simply too repetitive for its own good.
This leads into the album's largest flaw: repetitive songs. It's strange, as some of the longest songs are the least repetitive, while shorter songs don't really go anywhere. For example, the 10-minute "Outside In" has a fantastic progression to it, with no significant repetition to be found. However, the four-minute "Doppelganger" is extremely repetitive. It's the sort of song that's fantastic for about the first two minutes, at which point you've heard all that the song has to offer. It's a shame, as the song could have been one of the album's strongest had it offered a bit more for the listener to enjoy. Lastly, it's worth mentioning that Forgotten Suns greatly participates in one of progressive metal's worst current trends: spoken samples. There are a ton of them here, and they only detract from the music.
This is an album that I would stick clearly between good and great. As for the songs, they range from extremely good to not-so-enjoyable. But when the full package is considered--a cohesive album played from beginning to end--those missteps really stand out as significantly marring an otherwise great package. So while fans of progressive metal will most certainly find something to like here, it's hard to enjoy every moment of this album.
Andrew Kauz
www.progressivemelodies.com
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