Review Summary: a bit recycled but might appeal to new listeners.
Heres my Review!:
1. Peel- galloping double bass pedal bass intro and an interesting dual lead/ vocal harmony. A good track seems to be a lot like what Dream Theater has been trying (unsuccessfully) to produce in their last like 3 or 4 albums. Its a good track, but the lyrics kind of leave me out of it sadly enough..."what you do is up to you so explore. What ill be is up to me bla blah at the core"....like WHATEVER!
Leads to my main overall criticism of the band, the lyrics! Van Dyke works for Disney and well it kind of shows. His prog metal is much like a disney animated movie. Think of snow white or Cinderella or whatever .... Beautiful animation, colors, and technically superb yet without interesting dialog and predictable plots.
2. Walls- OK do we really need another prog song about walls?? "you made us prisoners and im trying to set us free" ugg... Nick is clearly not concerned about reusing popular cliches or phrases as we see again with his guy fox reference in another song. Having said that the track does hit hard. Implements Nicks fond of sequential chord progression idea. Similar to what we have seen in Fall on You and else where. But hey im a fan of it.
3. Leviathan Rising- remember remember the 5th of November. OK he is European yet still the intro made me think he had just seen V for Vendetta ....anyway the track is another aggressive offering . For some reason Rays voice sounds a little like Ozzie to me... Song reminds me a lot of Man of Glass on their previous record. Nick seems to be a fan of revisiting ideas which is not completely uninteresting.
4. Black and White world - This seems to be my favorite Ray track. His subtle intonations are just ingenious. Even when the lyrics he is singing shoudl be comming from the mouth of the Ariel the little mermaid. I just love when he sings "balck and white...Black and whiiite"...just perfect. Once the song gets chugging it converges to somethign VERY similar to Bleed me Dry from their previous record. Again whether this is intentional or not is an open question.
5. Unformed- Interesting title. Interesting into. Then the guitar kicks in and i am reminds of Fall on You. But just a little. the chord changes are perhaps a little jarring but interesting hey this is prog! Ultimatly i am not pleased with the chorus "someday ill find the life i left for you..."
6. Keep Breathing- Ok a similar intro with another floydian title. Once the intro gets a minute old it becomes clear that this is the Sapphire track of the album. EXTREMELY SIMILAR. Probably intentional. The lyrics are just really too much for me at least. Instrumentally it does some neat stuff within the sapphire framework. Unfortunately for me i was never such a big fan of the original Sapphire track and this is at least the second time they have revisited it.
7. Another Day dies- Not a fan. Labrie sounds terrible.
8. What will you say-again the lyrical content i found alienating. it gets kicked of to a grandiose guitar driven lift off to "One day in the arms of another when your close enough to share the dreams you wished would be what will you say about me..." uggg its embarrassing to type. "what will you think about when youv a family all your own??" sheesh... again the sound is there though.
9. Fistful of Sand- This might be one of the most interesting and original tracks on the album. There is this moving independent melody that is going on sort of underneath the rhythm section. Pretty impressive musically. They really nailed what DT has been dreaming of. This one reminded me a little of the type of atmosphere they created on their first album.
10. Love Kills us All/Life in One Day - OK i think i really like Love Kills us All. Its again clsoer to the atmosphere of the first album. Which i am a fan of. I basically tghink i enjoy the Love Kills us all portion. Its largely instrumental but then the lyrics kick in and it goes into Life in One day. The melody line just bugs me a little "can you live you r life in one day? i dont know what more i have to wait for..etc" it resolves itself to easily or quickly and ends up sounding smug.
11.S.O.C.-OK the beginning definitely reminds me of something like Sapphire from their past. Anyway its a pretty ripping prog instrumental. Ahh yes the ending is definitely referencing a melody we have heard before...but what is it?? ahhh yes i believe its part IV of Desperation! Maybe its supposed to be some kind of medley.
Over all a solid offering. I found the lyrics to be severely alienating but musically its very solid. I am pleased they have not thrown out the ideas i loved from their first album and that they have found such a rich and illustrative sound which they can really create coldness with. For some reason their sound reminds me of an epic disney version of the legend of sleepy hollow.
i give a solid 7.5/10
