Metal Reviews

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Upon first listen it's a great album, truly worthy of the name and word progressive. But I find it hard to believe I would give it a perfect score even after multiple listens. First I find the female vocals to be subpar in some parts, sometimes I like them, sometimes I find them borderline horrible with some moments where she sounds like she isn't even singing right. But well, maybe it's just me . I just thought I'd say that a perfect score is difficult to stand by in any case. There are some excellent moments in this release and the overall concept and female vs male vocals as characters I like very much. But there is definitely place to improve in my opinion...

After first listen : 82-90 / 100 ... maybe it will grow stronger and maybe I'll find a "final" score... if so I might post it along yours. That is if this album keeps me interested for enough time for me to reach such score. I am interested and if it wasn't for the 100 / 100 I might not have listened to it at all. I would have missed something original. So if only for that I'm grateful for your review, thanks . I cannot agree with it as passionately as you do (at least not yet, but maybe after many listens...), but we all have our tastes, and reviews are opinions after all. I know many people disagreed with my statement on Euphoreon's review... each for their own reasons. I'm glad you found an album that makes you tick this way (the same way I feel for Euphoreon I'd say).

Thanks for the review and for getting me interested in this band. I'd prepare myself for some backslash for the scoring though ;) (from personal 11 years of MR experience).

Chris

I understand your points, and questioned it myself. I assure you that I listened to this album multiple times, with a critical ear, but I honestly found no flaws that I can discern to my taste. The album struck me harder than anything I have listened to in quite awhile. I find her vocals to be extremely effective for the style she displays (a soulful alto as opposed to your more typical soprano's that dominate the scene), and her harmonies are fantastic with the male vocals. The arrangement is gripping, and most importantly fresh with various elements that just struck me as unique. 100/100 is a very strong statement, but it is one I felt compelled to give after yet another listen last night as I was wrapping up this review. I think it is also important to note that I am not a very big believer in any scoring system, finding them to be too restrictive on something that is purely subjective, and I would like to think my writing makes a better statement about my opinion than a number, but by giving it that score I think I meet my intent of illustrating the impact this album had on me. I am not comparing it to other albums that I would consider perfect, I am simply saying at this moment to me it stands among them. Don't expect me to hand out this score again any time soon, just respect the fact that I believe this album warrants it. Naturally this is all just a matter of opinions, and to each their own.

Also as far as backlash is concerned, whatever. If someone wants to discuss things intelligently then I am certainly game. If others want to flame and troll, then I think I hear my son calling me

A 100 eh well you peaked my interest.

For me it was. I am glad it got your attention, it certainly deserves a look.

You never really said what was "progressive" about this... I listened to the song on their website and it was very good, but it definitely sounded like prog metal and it wasn't really pushing any boundaries.

The concept behind the album and the way the songs tie it together into one single entity strike me as quite proggresive in the way they are done. Granted it has been done before, such as Mindcrime, but not since that album do I feel it has been done quite so well (at least to my ears). The boundaries that I was speaking of were from a compositional standpoint, where there are different layers to each song that provide a myriad of musical styles without ever becoming too convoluted. For instance there are numerous switches in The Apparition, from quiet passages involving only the female singer, to melodic riffs that provides a bridge to the chorus, followed by the male singer coming in with a section that completely changes the tempo and tone of the song, and finally that leads into a tie in to the previous song that blends effortlessly without distracting. Examples of this can be found throughout the album, though they do not repeat themselves. I find this to be progressive in its execution, and in how powerful its effect was on me. Plenty of bands attempt a similar approach, yet many lose themselves at some point in the process.

In writing the review, I did my best to convey my thoughts on the album and what merited its prog status, but I might have needed to go further in depth with that aspect of it. I recommend that you listen to the album as a whole, from beginning to end, to fully gauge it. That is where it's true strength lies for me.

Eh, I'm still not convinced. Concept albums, long/dynamic songs, and experimentation with a variety of musical styles are far from boundary pushing... they're all things that progressive rock bands from the 70s were doing.

I think your first paragraph, where you say that "progressive" means "boundary pushing", is wrong. Radiohead have pushed boundaries with each of their albums, but it would be highly misleading to call them a progressive rock band. Progressive metal is just a name that describes a certain style of music, just like any other genre.

Just downloaded this from iTunes this morning and gave it a first listen this evening. Despite our apprehensions regarding the score that Cory awarded the album it does make a point. Perhaps perception is reality in this case as this is a very strong progressive metal album.Musically it remind me of a more theatrical mix of Dream Theater, Ayreon, and Beyond Twilight. The story telling element has a Trans-Siberian Orchestra feel to me. Good stuff.

Glad you like it man. In hind site 100/100 might have been riding the emotion wave a bit too high, but this is easily a high 90's album IMO, and certainly worth the AOTY tag for me.

Sir, you are certainly entitled to your opinion and your score. I refuse to criticize how you graded the album because music affects us all differently and if that's how you truly felt about the album then so be it I'm really enjoying it so I do appreciate your honesty in the review. Here's a video trailer for the album I found that you may want to check out: http://youtu.be/br_BUNDOtmc

Interesting. I pretty much blind buy everything Frontiers puts out these days, but this one didn't really strike me as something potentially amazing. Sounded like good melodic rock from the samples I heard.

But 100/100? That's got my attention.

I think you will like it. I have an interview with them that I am working on, but it is a pretty lengthy beast that I have to type out. Hope to have it out on Monday.

Sadly, the word has actually lost its meaning in terms of its actual definition and now just refers to the genre that Dream Theater and Symphony X occupy. Right?

That is what I think. But I suppose it is also just a matter of your perception. Genre's in general are just our attempts to categorize something for the sake of order. Ultimately the only thing that matters is whether you enjoy the music or not.

My score is 86. A perfect score? No, but I like it.

Will check this out for sure. Not sure what the big fuzz about the scoring is. 100/100 equals 10/10 or 5/5, it's just a much wider range. If the socring was between 1 and 5 fewer people would question a perfect score I think.

100/100 equals 5/5 yes, but 5/5 does not imply 100/100.

Anyways, just started listening to this and it seems to be very good, will have to see if it is really 100/100 though.

Cool, glad you are checking it out.