The Progressive Metal Thread

October 25, 2023 08:44 PM

So Mike Portnoy is officially back in Dream Theater.


*drops bomb & runs away so as to avoid all the prog frothing that will inevitably take place following this long-awaited news*

October 26, 2023 12:15 AM

The founding trio is whole again! The other two being the two Johns, Petrucci and Myung. And of course, don't forget James Labrie and Jordan Rudess.

October 26, 2023 11:55 PM

Psychotic Waltz - "A Social Grace" (1990)

How I’ve managed to overlook San Diego progressive metallers Psychotic Waltz up until now is anyone’s guess because their 1990 debut album is a very impressive effort to say the least. “A Social Grace” harnesses outstanding musicianship & some highly complex arrangements to create over an hour of seriously classy metal music that lacks nothing in the heaviness department either. Fans of 1980’s Fates Warning should immediately get onboard this ship as there are close similarities however I’d suggest that Psychotic Waltz are a touch heavier with their sound further indulging in the chunkier end of the US power scene more consistently.

Front man Buddy Lackey takes a theatrical & operatic approach that often sounds quite a bit like Iron Maiden/Samson legend Bruce Dickinson. He does a pretty reasonable job at navigating Psychotic Waltz’s rhythmic technicalities & ensures that none of the thirteen tracks included could be considered as weak or filler. There’s a noticeable lack of memorable vocal hooks though & it’s this absence that sees the appeal of “A Social Grace’ being capped at around that four-star mark. The instrumentation is often nothing short of dazzling but I can’t say that I can remember much of the song-writing afterwards & that can be the difference between good & great when it comes to progressive music a lot of the time as it clearly is here.

Still… you’ll do well to find a more capable & professional example of early progressive metal than this one. It’s right up there with the best material that had been released to the time in my opinion & I’d probably take it over Fates Warning’s more well known classics like “The Spectre Within” or “Awaken The Guardian” to be honest.

4/5


Sonny & Rex, I reckon you might dig this one.

November 04, 2023 10:04 PM

Here's my adjusted Top Ten Progressive Metal Releases of All Time list after adoring this month's The Infinite feature release with Dream Theater's "Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory" being the unlucky record to drop out:


01. Leprous - "Live at Rockefeller Music Hall" (2016)

02. Lucid Planet - "Lucid Planet II" (2020)

03. Mastodon - "Leviathan" (2004)

04. Cynic - "Focus" (1993)

05. Opeth - "The Roundhouse Tapes" (2007)

06. Epiphanic Truth - "Dark Triad: Bitter Psalms to a Sordid Species" (2021)

07. Gojira - "From Mars to Sirius" (2005)

08. Dream Theater - "Images and Words" (1992)

09. Opeth - "Deliverance" (2002)

10. Devin Townsend - "Ocean Machine - Biomech" (1997)

February 22, 2024 07:05 PM

Fates Warning - "Parallels" (1991)

The 1991 sixth full-length from Connecticut progressive metallers Fates Warning would represent not only my introduction to the band but would also be the only one of their releases I'd dish out my hard-earned cash for with my purchase of the CD coming very shortly after its release & off the back of my experiences with the magnificent "Point of View" single which was being consistently flogged on late-night metal radio programming at the time. "Parallels" would also be the last Fates Warning album I'd ever bother to check out which is a little strange when you consider that I still regard it as being the best of the four records I'm familiar with from them. Still... better late than never I guess as I fully intend to get there eventually. It's been a little while since I revisited "Parallels" though so it's well past time that I got a well-informed rating up on the Academy for it. Let's see how I went.

Fates Warning's first three albums from 1984-86 were all heavily weighted towards a US power metal sound with the last two (1985's "The Spectre Within" & 1986's "Awaken The Guardian") also sitting amongst the most complex & ambitious examples of metal music released to the time. Their debut "Night on Bröcken" was merely a chance to break the ice & saw the band simply emulating their NWOBHM idols Iron Maiden but things got significantly more creative after that with their two 1980's classics taking a much more technically challenging road & achieving suitable notoriety as a result. I didn't mind "Night on Bröcken" & "Awaken The Guardian" but it was "The Spectre Within" that I found the most appeal in &, of the three, it's still the one that I go back to when I feel the inclination for 80's Fates Warning. Despite possessing clear prog credentials though, "Parallels" is a very different record from that trio of early works & it makes me wonder what I might have missed out on with the two albums in between "Awaken The Guardian" & "Parallels". The 1991 Fates Warning model is a much cleaner & more sophisticated one to the band's more aggressive roots, utilizing strong prog rock influences for a moodier result that leans hard on social issues for inspiration. Rush was no doubt a huge source of influence at the time with three or four of the songs feeling more like rock than they do metal. The more metallic inclusions see the instrumentalists flexing their rhythmic muscles through structurally complex time signatures & less riff-oriented textures which makes for a highly intellectual sound that I would imagine wouldn't appeal to some metalheads. For me though, it showcases a new level of maturity & creativity for Fates Warning over their early works & it worked a treat for me as a teenager.

The tracklisting begins in stellar fashion with the technicalities of opener "Leave the Past Behind" being balanced by some brilliant hooks & vocalist Ray Alder proving himself to be infinitely more capable than divisive original front man John Arch. In fact, Alder is so wonderful on this record that I have to question why he's not spoken of more often when discussing the great metal singers of all time, such is his range & control. But the opener would not be the only highlight to be included on "Parallels" with the two real classics being the previously mentioned progressive metal anthem "Point of View" & the splendidly atmospheric prog rock closer "The Road Goes on Forever", both of which would go on to become some of my very favourite tracks of the early 1990's. The rest of the tracklisting sees the quality levels varying a little with the fairly insignificant prog rock of "We Only Say Goodbye" being the only clear failure. Songs like "Life in Still Water", "The Eleventh Hour" & "Don't Follow Me" are all high-quality examples of their type while the hard rocking riffs of "Eye To Eye" are merely pleasant without taking the same grip on the listener's emotions that the better tracks so emphatically achieve.

While "Parallels" may be a little less metal than Fates Warning's 80's classics, there can be no doubt that it's still an inherently progressive release & it shouldn't alienate fans of the other two US prog metal heavyweights in Queensryche & Dream Theater in any way as there are easily enough points of comparison to satisfy the fan bases of all three classic bands. Alder's contribution puts him right up with Geoff Tate & James LaBrie in my opinion (perhaps even surpassing the latter) & I can't help but think that I may have missed a trick by not fully exploring the rest of the band's Alder-fronted back catalogue at some point. Perhaps I've just been a little fearful of what Fates Warning might become following the hints at more of a rocky direction on this record but I've certainly found my interest peaked by this revisit which has only firmed up my opinions on what was already my favourite Fates Warning release to begin with.

4/5

March 25, 2024 05:55 AM

Confessor - "Confessor" E.P. (1992)

I'd honestly never heard of North Carolina five-piece Confessor until I picked up 1992's Earache Records "Gods of Grind" compilation back at the time of release. The CD brought together high-quality EP's from Entombed, Carcass & Cathedral as well as the three-song self-titled effort from Confessor which featured the title track from their 1991 debut album "Condemned" as well as two cover versions of old Trouble songs that I probably wasn't aware of at the time. I think it's fair to say that Confessor's contributions saw my ears pricking up in a pretty major way too just quietly because they offered a very fresh & professional sound that not only showcased their clear technical talents but also saw them presenting something a little different to the norm.

If there's one reason to check out the "Confessor" E.P. then it's most certainly the opening cut "Condemned" which is a real treat for fans of the more complex side of progressive metal. The rhythmic experimentation on show here is nothing short of marvelous & will have even the more capable drummers out there picking their jaws up off the ground. Scott Jeffreys soaring higher-register vocal histrionics are certainly an acquired taste but shouldn't be too much of a challenge for prog fans who have been raised on a steady diet of Watchtower & Fates Warning. Things change up significantly for the second song "The Last Judgement" (an old Trouble demo track) which sees Confessor taking a different approach that sits somewhere between traditional doom metal & stoner metal. It's still solid enough stuff though. Closer "Endtime" was one of my favourite inclusions on Trouble's debut album "Psalm 9" so there's no surprise that I enjoy Confessor's version too. It kinda combines the three sounds we've heard over the first two tracks for a high-quality progressive stoner doom instrumental.

There's no question that "Confessor" is carried by the single original inclusion in "Condemned" but the two cover versions are both excellent too which has seen me being tempted to award one of my more premium scores. I've never gotten around to checking out much of Confessor's other material but it might be about time I did. The "Confessor" E.P. comes highly recommended for fans of Abstrakt Algebra, Dark Millenium & (unsurprisingly) Trouble.

4.5/5

May 17, 2024 11:28 AM


June 16, 2024 01:19 AM

Ark - Ark (200)

Genres: Prog Metal

Subgenres: Prog Rock

 I never really hear anyone talk about Ark, probably because the band broke up too quickly to get noticed.  However, both of their albums are considered quite good, so as a prog fan I was looking forward to this for a while.  I finally have some time for metal among all my EDM studies, so why not tackle one of the Metal Academy list challenges?  This time, it's 2nd wave of prog metal.  Unfortunately, when I check out a band, I don't like to look up only one album.  So this list challenge is going to take some extra effort on my part.  Thankfully, the next album on this prog challenge belongs to a band with only two albums, so it's onto this one and off to Burn the Sun.

I noticed that Jorn Lande, also known simply as Jorn, has a similar growl in his vocals to one of my favorite metal vocalists: Russell Allen of Symphony X, who recorded a few albums with him.  Jorn, however, has a bit of traditional hard rock in his voice as well, like just a hint of Robert Plant of another Russell: Jack of Great White.  Along with some traditional vibes, this prog metal album had a nice retro flair to it. The organs in the background are a bit reminiscent of this time as well, recalling moments of Deep Purple and krautrock.  The organ is all-too familiar in prog.  And thankfully, the album mixed it up a little.  pop and prog structures both make their way into this album while we get cute surprises like acoustic Spanish guitar.

Unfortunately, there are two huge problems that got in the way of my enjoyment.  First: the percussion.  The drummer they got was good at what he did, but the distinct sound of the drums was too high and light for a prog metal album.  This hindered the album's ability to maximize the metal energy and constantly got in the way of me fully enjoying any of the songs.  Second: the progressive layouts.  They're are standard as a poppier Rush album.  It's like these prog elements are just prog enough to get the tag.  Eventually, all of its tricks start to feel standard.  On top of that, lyrics like "Roll the dice, pay the price" can be written by Crush 40.

OK, so this debut had some ups that lasted a little while before the downs made it feel less original.  it's a decently cool prog debut, but a standard one with both strong highs and a couple effective lows.  They say the second one is much better, so here's hoping it lives up to the legend when I get to it.  I feel no reason to return to this one, though.

68/100

June 17, 2024 08:22 PM

Gonna get through an Ayreon marathon.  I need to get through many of their albums, anyway.  All the reviews will be posted here, so stay tuned.

June 17, 2024 08:48 PM

Ayreon - The Final Experiment (1995)

Genres: Prog Metal, Metal Opera

Time for the next project for my Metal Academy prog metal challenge: Ayreon.  I've been putting these guys off for quite a while due to the nature of my charts and the necessity for more jazz, EDM, folk, etc.  So I'm gonna listen to this band a little slowly overtime, as I shouldn't only listen to ONE Ayreon album for the challenge and am aware that these guys have several essentials in the prog metal community.  I'm honestly a bit impatient to get through them, but won't forsake my jazz and EDM studies for it.

Ayreon is the first band formed by Arjen Anthony Lucassen, who later formed the sci-fi movie concept act Star One.  This is the album that launched his career in prog metal, and focused on a conceptual story from the getgo.  And since the lead character shares the band's name, the story won't end with one album, much like Rhapsody.  I totally admire that a band's willing to stick with a recurring original concept rather than writing about the same metal and pop tops we're all familiar with.

As far as what the album did right: the structures of these songs felt totally fine to me.  Ayreon wasn't afraid to stick an eleven-minute song in this album four tracks in, and that track held itself throughout the entire runtime.  So when it comes to structuring a song, Ayreon already had some skill in it.  Having said that, I felt like sometimes the trumpets and violins came on a little too strongly, and were more there for show rather than for a core, despite the fact that the compositions were still fun and spirited.  I mean, even when the tempos are slower, this album is pretty high energy.  Of course, not everything is all 2112 and Dream Theater.  Nice, softer, shorter and folksy songs like Nature's Dance recall shorter tracks like Mother on Pink Floyd's The Wall.  So one definite pro is that the album isn't beating us over our fragile little noggins over guitar wankery.  They're certainly not one of those sellouts catering to a specific generic group: they're thoughtful.

But what did it sacrifice to get this end result?  Well, first of all, despite all the time travel themes, it starts off with futuristic cyberpunk vibes and then makes a complete 180 to Arthurian mythology.  So thematically, it's a bit challenged.  On top of that, the story certainly didn't amaze me.  It's basically no different than any Bible tale.  Thankfully it's never fully gone.  The prog electronic backdrops of Computer-Reign are a nice recall, but that one song certainly wasn't enough for me.  In fact, the song itself wasn't even long enough for me to really fall in love with.  After the skillfully crafted 11-minute epic, I figured that concept certainly needed more album time.  if I were to be specific, I know these guys could've doubled the time.

So now for the four questions:

1. What is the goal of this album?  To be a diverse, well-written and new concept in fantasy metal, recalling the prog rock albums of the 70's.

2. Does this album meet it's goal?  Yes, it totally does.  There's a lot of spirit here, and you can tell that the band not only wrote the songs fairly well at least, but had fun with it.

3. What did the band neglect or sacrifice to meet this goal?  I'd say a thicker story and more instances of the sci-fi vibe are necessary.

4. Are the sacrifices made up for by other aspects of the album?  Not really.  I still miss the sci-fi and wanted more of a mingling of the two genres.

Well, Ayreon made it perfectly clear that they were willing to maximize on the popular tropes of yesteryears prog concepts and structures.  There are faint hints of Rush, Floyd, Dream Theater, etc. here that you may enjoy.  But even if this fun and spirited album never reaches truly glorious prog heights, it's still a fun and varied debut with the same sense of fun as a good 80's fantasy movie.  If I had to compare the quality and the vibes of this album to a movie, I'd easily choose Clash of the Titans.

77 / 100

June 17, 2024 11:00 PM

Ayreon - Into the Electric Castle (1998)

Genres: Prog Rock, Rock Opera

Subgenres: Metal Opera, Prog Metal, Symphonic Prog, Psych Rock

So apparently the original version of Actual Fantasy is practically impossible to find, so I skipped it.  Real shame since I wanted to critique as many Ayreon albums as I could.  I was only able to find the first two tracks, and was really NOT impressed with what I heard.  It was too long and drawn out, going for bad imitations of classic space rock.  So the next album on my Ayreon marathon is Into the Electric Castle, which some say is their best thus far.

This wacky-ass album cover alone gives you everything you need to know.  Why wouldn't a somewhat psychedelic journey through an undiscovered world to an ancient castle be described with an Infected-Mushroom take on Howls' Moving Castle?  This album features multiple characters all voicing different characters within this strange little story, so it's already proving that it's a unique album, which I didn't really grasp from The Final Experiment.  The vocalists include Lucassen himself, Anneke van Giersbergen of The Gathering, Fish of Marillion, Sharon den Adel and Robert Westerholt from Within Temptation and even Peter Daltrey from the classic pop band Kaleidoscope.   You can tell from the first song, Isis and Osiris, that some 60's influences such as psych rock and Jethro Tull are making their way in.  There's some fine instrumentation from Isis and Osiris alone, but the real strength is how well all the vocalists operate with each other as well as with this unique new sound for Ayreon.

I found that there were some moments where I wished the metal of the first album would make more appearances early on, and I didn't get very much between Amazing Flight and Valley of the Queens (tracks 3-9).  Eventually, once I got past the halfway mark, I kind of gave up on the idea that this is a metal album as was advertised.  However, I really enjoyed the story and the unique sound was there to help.  We had little bits of metal every now and then, like the power ballad The Castle Hall, which mingled the power metal sound with Jethro Tull acoustics.  Weirdly enough, it becomes a metal album again at around track ten.

I didn't think about this at first when I turned on the album, but I wasn't surprised at all when I heard the ten-minute epics and they kept the songs original and consistent throughout each runtime.  This means their skill at delivering epics from their debut hadn't waned at all at that point.  Unfortunately, there aren't very many epics after the first two actual songs, but it was still a lot of fun.

So the four questions:

1. What is the goal of the album?  To be a new kind of rock opera for Ayreon and an innovation in the prog scene.

2. Did the album meet its goal?  Totally.  This is a much cooler and more thought-provoking story than The Final Experiment.

3. What did the band sacrifice or neglect to meet this goal?  Well, they sacrificed their original sound for a new one, and the instrumentations don't wow me as much as they impress me.

4. Were these negligences made up for by other aspects of the album?  The instrumentation was more great than amazing, so there's a no for that at least.  But there's a HUGE yes for the shift in sound because A: it's not as typical as the stereotypical medieval vibes of The Final Experiment, and B: because this retro Jethro Tull influence paired beautifully with the lyrical content.

So I'd say that this tertiary album of Ayreon's is a big success for them.  It features many cool prog songs with a strong presence, rarely gets samey, carries a bunch of vocalists that work together perfectly and always keeps the story strong.  Really glad I decided to check these guys out.

91 / 100

June 20, 2024 02:24 AM

Ayreon - The Human Equation (2004)

Genres: Prog Metal, Metal Opera

Subgenres: Prog Rock, Space Rock, Folk Rock

I've been a bitdistracted from the prog metal for a couple days since I've been going through so many projects lately, but now I've got the time to take on this 100-minute Ayreon album in one sitting.  I don't like splitting albums in parts unless it's just THAT long, like the 10-hour Grateful Dead Fillmore West comp I once listened to years ago.  I didn't have super-high hopes for this one as Into the Electric Castle didn't amaze me as much as the fans would want, although I still liked it.

Akin to Into the Electric Castle, this 100-minute album shows Ayreon going for another new sound for the band, but a pretty familiar one for me.  This album's a bit reminiscent of the themes and guitar tones of Metropolis Pt. 2 by Dream Theater.  Don't believe me?  Guess who sings as the main character of this concept: James LaBrie of Dream Theater.  To be fair, I skipped over the Universal Migrator albums for the list challenge, so I'm not fully aware of the transition.  But I know the first part of that two-album series has symphonic prog elements from a little research.  The folksy aspects make occasional returns, and sometimes it's just glorious like in the Disc 1 outro: Love.  It's a pretty incredible track melodically and aurally.  And thankfully, the space rock elements of the debut are here without the cheesy symphonia that didn't really add to the emotional core of the debut.  Thankfully there are a large number of influences here.  Some of the electronic elements faintly ring of Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream, while some of the more dramatic vocals on Day 8 and the rhythm have a Meat Loaf ring to them.  The song Loser somehow manages to combine Celtic metal with metalcore screams and still maintain the themes and presence of the song.  Pride's repeating metallic riff can also be attributed to some Devin Townsend influence.  This is no surprise as various characters are played by people such as Townsend, LaBrie, Mikael Åkerfeldt of Opeth, Mike Baker of Shadow Gallery and even Eric Clayton of Saviour Machine, along with so many more.

The story is certainly an intriguing one.  This one's like a combination of the mystique of Metropolis Pt. 2 and the scene-by-scene history of The Wall or maybe the 1975 Russian film The Mirror, telling the story of a man who gets into a car accident, is comatose, and goes over his history with his childhood, his wife and even his own emotions.  Listen closely to the lyrics as they get incredibly personal.  However, these themes, while well-delivered, aren't entirely new, as they still ring heavily of the psychological lyrical imagery that's been seen in rock operas ever since the emergence of The Who's Tommy.  On top of that, I'm not really sure the album needs to last 100 minutes.  I mean, some themes feel recycled overtime, not having the originality of similar stories like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.  Despite these things, the melodies are always beautiful and the number of influences are both consistent and always intriguing and / or catchy.

Now for the four questions:

1. What is the goal of this album?  It seems to be Ayreon's attempt at another "essential" prog metal opera as it fits the tropes.

2. Does it meet this goal?  Considering the melodic quality and variety of each song, I'd say so.

3. What did this album sacrifice to meet its goal?  I'd say uniqueness.  It's tropey and also a little long.

4. Are these sacrifices made up for by other aspects of the album?  Oh, yeah.  The album might be overlong, but its musical prowess is phenomenal.

So overall, I'd say this is EASILY a good 100 minutes of my time that I find myself tempted to go back and revisit.  I didn't think this was gonna be as high on my rating chart as it's gonna be considering that I wasn't wowed by their album The Human Equation which is just as lauded, but this album wowed me a few times.

96/100

July 01, 2024 07:47 PM


Shadow Gallery - Shadow Gallery (1992)

Genres: Symphonic Prog Metal, Symphonic Prog Rock

Subgenres: Neoclassical Metal, Neo-Prog

As you can see, I'm using quite a different genre-tagging than RYM.

At the time of writing this, let it be known that I've spent weeks largely focusing on either genres as well as 2024 releases and the bands associated with them.  Since I like to explore at least parts of discographies when I check out as new artist, it takes a while for me to get through metal albums.  In terms of Metal Academy's list challenges, that takes me even longer.  But today I'm allowing myself some metal for all my hard work.  Today I'm getting through three SHadow Gallerey albums to make it to the one I need to help with the challenge: Tyranny.  But of course, I'm starting with their self-titled debut.

The Shadow Gallery debut is basically everything you'd expect from a symphonic prog metal band.  We've got many diversified elements that bring a sharp and poignant persona to the music, made up of the neoclassicalism present in many 70's prog rock bands adjusted for the metal genre, energetic and functional melodies up the wazoo, contemporary neo-prog bringing to mind the words of Marillion and IQ, and enough light but effective metallic energy to attract less experimental fans of prog metal such as Dream Theater fans.  Everything molds pretty well together to cement the Shadow Gallery identity instantly, and makes one curious about future releases.  Right from the getgo the heavy melodies are almost gorgeous, and the album diversifies itself while staying that way.

However, of all its strong points there are a couple of weak points.  First and foremost, while the delivery is exquisite, the compositions are nothing groundbreaking in the prog metal vein.  We've seen it all before, but the persona's strength gave me hope for future releases to remedy the flaw.  The second most important thing is that the production, while glittery, doesn't really fit the metal vibe.  The album's metal enough to go along, but it felt more appropriate for a symphonic prog ROCK album rather than a symphonic prog METAL album.  In fact, it reminded me of the difference between Twilight Force's impressive debut and the glittery behavior of their sophomore.

I'm glad I had the time for Shadow Gallery today, and you know something?  I really like the direction they took.  They seem to have practiced a lot with their sound and despite the major flaws, the strengths outweigh them, and I'd probably even return to this album later despite the flaws.

77

July 01, 2024 08:34 PM


Genres: Prog Rock

Subgenres: Prog Metal, Neo-Prog, Ambient, Modern Classical

This is the point where Shadow Gallery decided to be REALLY ambitious.  Taking a dramatic turn from their previos sound, they experiment with new textures here, risking alienating fans of the first.  At first I found myself pretty annoyed with finding the various track listings on RYM and YouTube make it difficult to find the right playlist.  Apparently there seem to be major changes between releases, so I just went with the one involving the hidden segues.

Right from the start, Cliffhanger fixes the major production problem of the debut, making it more appropriate for tamed metal studio production instead of glittery symphonic prog rock production.  Cliffhanger also bore a new, slower and darker persona.  There's more focus on synths and organs as well as textures.  Whether this was simply a temporary direction on an album with more of the enjoyable symphonics of the previous album or the staple for the rest of the album I didn't know, but I was gonna finish it anyway.  I quite liked the new direction and I was both happy and disappointed that Crystalline Dream carried the sound over due to pros and cons.  The textures become a vital role in the development of the entire side B, which is all one big epic divided into several parts.  The various influences of the album do a bang-up job bringing you into a weird proggy solar system with its own fanciful presence.

Ironically, I really wished there was more strength in the percussions.  The album definitely needs more beat in terms of strength and metallic behavior.  Sometimes this album will drag on and forget to be a metal album.  This is only one example of how the album largely sacrifices the symphonic sound for dramatic epica.  At least these vibes are tamed and never reach melodrama, but I wish it would feel more like a metal album.  Even when guitars go deep it steers to close to ballad territory too consistently to give a metalhead what he needs.  If people are gonna complain about a metal tag for Deep Purple's Child in Time, then I'm gonna complain about a metal tag for Warcry.  It's neo-prog with a little metal in it.

As a prog rock album, this one succeeds hard.  We have a great balance between slow atmospheres and heavy organ symphonics due to the inclusion of ballads.  Although I wish Shadow gallery continued the sound of their first album, I won't deny that I consider the various genres the band implemented to all be well-delivered.  Nicely epic and consistent, this is a step forward for Shadow Gallery.

82.5

July 17, 2024 08:19 PM


Disillusion - Back to Times of Splendor (2004)

Genres: Prog Metal

Subgenres: Melodeath Metal

I paid very little attention to Disillusion because people only really talk about the one album, their debut Back to Times of Splendor.  That's a bit of a disappointment to me considering I like to explore plenty of an act's catalog before moving onto the next.  But it's necessary for me to check them out considering that debut album's reputation, my desire to be a professional critic and the list challenge here.  I didn't have any prior knowledge of them, and had no idea what to expect, but was hoping it wouldn't just be another standard prog album like a few of the albums on this same list challenge.

I'll admit, I haven't been extremely impressed with many of the choices on Metal Academy's 2nd-era prog metal challenge list.  So when I started the album, and this vaguely Egyptian prog-death opener assaulted me with a complex rhythm that was extremely easy to get to and heavier than a granite boulder, my attention was at full.  I was especially happy with this considering that I'm just coming off the back of Dan Swano's solo piece, Moontower, which was standard prog metal but could've been a little heavier at times without relying on so many 70's German prog synths.  Instead they rely on a perfect melodic / complexity balance as a focal point, as if they knew they were showing off.  But the thing is, this album never once feels like guitar wankery.  The rhythms are always easy to work with, and the band is in perfect harmony.  Due to how focused everything it, it's obvious that Disillusion is trying less to be "musicians" and more to be a "band."  Even when it switches things around a little, like the death metal middle section of Alone I Stand in Fires, nothing really feels out of place.  It's so consistent that sometimes the cool surprises might go over your head.

Due to the fact that the singer and the guitar tone are pretty standard for 2000's prog, I was more impressed than amazed, as if this was just an upgraded version of standard prog albums like Shadow Gallery's Tyranny.  Think of this whole album as a much more clever (and somewhat heavier) collection of many things that give standard prog its own name, from the guitar tones to the softer acoustic moments to being inches away from death metal to an occasional power metal segment to a romantic adventure story.  So while I didn't get the unique album I was hoping for, suffice it to say, I still got a great one that has a lot of clever technicality and never once loses its grip.  I would easily recommend this, although I wouldn't put it in my top 500 metal albums.  Maybe it'll be the in the lower end of my top 100 prog metal albums, but it might get kicked off soon.

90/100

July 17, 2024 09:25 PM


Disillusion - Gloria (2006)

Genres: Prog Metal, Industrial Metal

From what I understand, Disillusion's sophomore album Gloria represents a dramatic change in sound from their debut, which was more straightforward prog but amped up.  Having recently gotten through the first three Shadow Gallery albums, I'm perfectly used to this.  I didn't expect a great album when I came into this, but I theorized I would like it more than many others because IMO the last thing the world needs is more "standard" albums, and we're already gonna get them every week anyway, so I might as well enjoy what I can from their new industrial sound.

I don't know about you, but that super-dark raw and rough atmosphere took me by complete surprise.  It's noisy while still maintaining a sense of melody.  It was also made clear early on that the vocalist Andy Schmidt was taking a few cues from The Sisters of Mercy's own Andrew Eldritch.  He also takes many times to go for spoken word segments rather than singing, which means the band has a clear urban vision for the album.  I'll say this, the urban factor definitely works for the album.  Like I said, I appreciate new sounds, and it's safe to say that this album is pretty unique to the prog metal scene.  There are some very interesting decisions you'd never get on the previous album, such as the choral synths on the title track being combined with spoken word.  Another great example is Avalanche's black metal intro.  That was COMPLETELY unexpected.  The tremelo-picking is tuned down to allow for a funkier rock guitar to take its place, which means there is still some room for evolution in these tracks.

There's a big problem with switching their sound to an industrial one, though.  Their new sound is partially built on the repetition of singular notes heard often in industrial metal, and is contradictory to the melodic prowess that made their first album so good, which means instead of merely switching styles, they also forgot one of their signature skills at times.  The melodies here aren't generally bad, but some are much better than others to the point where another strong comparison to the debut keeps this album from reaching the same heights.  Another little problem is that Schmidt easily had more room for his more melodic vocals, and he largely abandoned them in favor of darker urban vocals that don't have the same effect.

This is one of those cases where a band's ambition creates something good but also alienates the fans.  Not every idea present is a good one, but the band works with what they're doing here pretty well.  I'm not sure why they decided to take such a drastic turn in their sound, but with some more fleshing out, they could've had something brilliant.  Instead, we get something enjoyable and diverse, but uneven and lacking spirit.

77

August 22, 2024 08:40 PM

Coroner - "Grin" (1993)


No need to write a new review for this one as my old one is still well & truly fit for purpose:


While I never felt that Coroner's 80's material quite reached the classic status that is inevitably heaped on it, 1991's "Mental Vortex" really blew me away so I was very much looking forward to their next release "Grin" when it was released two years later. As with many people my initial response was somewhat confused. It obviously champions a more stripped back sound & was very different to the band's previous material. The raw & technical thrash metal of their early days is replaced with a mid-tempo crunch that sounds a little more simple yet still offers plenty of complexity in the arrangements. With each repeat listen the songs open up more & more & I find myself becoming heavily engaged. The production is really quite brilliant in that it accentuates the cold (& almost industrial) atmosphere. This material is much more focused on song-writing than riffs so "Grin" tends to be a real grower. Every time I revisit it the songs take a couple of listens to reacquaint myself with but the effort is paid off tenfold. Ron Royce's vocals have rarely sounded this potent & the musicianship is absolutely top notch throughout. Tommy T Baron's guitar solos are nothing short of breath-taking here. His style is much more in sync with Joe Satriani than Yngwie Malmsteen these days & that can only be a good thing as far I'm concerned. I'd go so far as to say that this is one of the great lead guitar performances in extreme metal.

There really isn't a weak song on "Grin". In fact, it's arguably Coroner's most consistent record, despite the fact that I slightly prefer the wonderful "Mental Vortex" for Coroner overall. "Internal Conflicts" & "Paralyzed, Mesmerized" are perfect examples of what the band was trying to achieve & are my personal favourites but "The Lethargic Age" & "Status: Still Thinking" aren't far behind. Strangely, the popular "Grin (Nails Hurt)" is probably the song that appeals to me the least but it's in no way poor. This is ultra-professional & highly mature progressive metal that sounds amazingly fresh even today. "Grin" is a stunning achievement & I've always considered it to be a fitting finale for the band although it seems that more material is on the way after their recent reformation. If it's anywhere near the quality of "Grin" then I'll be very pleased.

For fans of Gojira, Tool & Nevermore.

4.5/5

September 12, 2024 06:28 AM