Progressive Metal

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Anthropia - The Chain Reaction (2009)

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    After bouncing around the US postal service for a few months, this CD (And the band's earliest album) finally arrived in my hands last week. Having heard a few of their songs on their myspace I was very excited to give this album a few spins in order to write this review.

    Anthropia is a very good Progressive/Symphonic Metal band from France, and their music sounds a lot like Ayreon's and StarOne's music, but with its own identity. "The Chain Reaction" is a concept album with a futuristic theme and provides for a very interesting read once you go through the booklet while the music is playing.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Requiem For Oblivion - Requiem For Oblivion (2009)

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    As you first listen to track number one on this self titled release, you expect some good old Progressive Metal, but as the album progresses you are headed for an acid trip similar to something out of a David Lynch movie.

    The band's style is a very peculiar mix of Progressive Metal and some Ambient elements, as well as some weird vocals. The band self claims to be heavily influenced by Rush, Dream Theater, Katatonia among others, and that is not completely far out.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Echoes Of Eternity – As Shadows Burn (2009)

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    While many people decided to trash Echoes Of Eternity debut album “The Forgotten Goddess”, I was very surprised why a band would get trashed by attempting a very interesting mixture of musical genres (Gothic and Progressive Metal) and achieving a very good debut album.

    The riffs on the band’s debut album were not the most original or complicated out there, also they were pretty repetitive but they still managed to get the job done in creating an original sound for a band that was breaking into the scene.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Echoes Of Eternity – As Shadows Burn (2009)

    cover

    While many people decided to trash Echoes Of Eternity debut album “The Forgotten Goddess”, I was very surprised why a band would get trashed by attempting a very interesting mixture of musical genres (Gothic and Progressive Metal) and achieving a very good debut album.

    The riffs on the band’s debut album were not the most original or complicated out there, also they were pretty repetitive but they still managed to get the job done in creating an original sound for a band that was breaking into the scene.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Xerath – I (2009)

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    Xerath has been touted as a mixture of Meshuggah and the symphonic sound of Dimmu Borgir, and this is a very accurate description of this band in our opinion. Having an amazing movie score like bombastic sound they are here to blow people away.

    Usually when a band is blown up to sound like this they end up being a big disappointment but for Xerath this rule does not apply, this band is all of that and way more, “I” is such a rich album that I had to listen to it more than ten times to fully appreciate and digest all the layers this release has.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Spheric Universe Experience – Unreal (2009)

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    Spheric Universe Experience (S.U.E for short) is a 5 man band from France that plays traditional Progressive Metal. “Unreal” is the band’s latest album that offers us 9 tracks, each one telling a story about different paranormal phenomena.

    The music of S.U.E sounds like a child of Dream Theater, Symphony X and <insert major Progressive metal band’s name here>. While not original in any way, the band is pretty good at mimicking the previously mentioned bands.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Amorphis - Skyforger (2009)

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    Amorphis are back after 2 years of touring and promoting their highly successful album “Silent Waters”. This finish band is back with a perfect follow-up album with “Skyforger”. Capitalizing on the strengths of “Silent Waters” and using Tomi’s great vocals to the full extent they provide us with their highest quality release of to date.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Amoprhis - Silver Bride (2009)

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    I have been a fan of Amorphis since “The Karelian Isthmus” and their fabulous transition into a more mature and fresh sounding Metal. After being a bit disappointed by “Silent Waters”, I picked up this new single that contains 2 versions of the title track “Silver Bride” and a track called “Separated”.   I was pretty satisfied with the quality of the songs presented here and made me be hesitant to the late May release date of the full album.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Mind Odyssey – Time To Change It (2009)

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    This band took ten years off between releases and they are surely back with a pretty good album that will attract fans of Progressive metal as well as Power / Heavy metal. The bands sound as been clearly updated to fit more recent releases of other bands of the genre. But the old school feeling is still there.

    This Germans have created a pretty good release that blends Power/Heave metal with some Progressive touches. It was probably good that they had a ten year hiatus before this release, in order to get perspective on things and come up with a very good release.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Adagio – Archangels In Black (2009)

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    After Adagaio’s great first two releases they have fallen into an identity crisis. They have been experimenting with several different styles of music, but failing to create decent release. “Archangels In Black” represent another attempt at creating different sounding release, but their repetitive heavy sounding guitars make this release another miss from this French band.

    Adagio’s original Progressive Power metal is still present in some songs, and there are many great moments in this album, but they are drowned by the repetitive heavy guitars, and some growls / harsh vocals here and there. The drumming style has changed a bit, but you can still hear the brilliant tempo changes and the intensity from before. There are also changes that accommodate the slower style of music, but in general they are still pretty good.

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