Category Archives: prog metal

THIRD EYE – Recipe For Disaster

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Hailing from Denmark, Third Eye are a progressive metal outfit featuring Michael Bodin (ex-Prophets Doom), Martin Damgaard (ex-Sweet Leaf) and Per Johansson (ex-Crystal Knight/Fate) and in terms of heaviness, they’re up there with the mighty Symphony X. For their debut album they’ve taken a bold step: ‘Recipe For Disaster’ is a concept piece about a man diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Obsessive Compusive Disorder (OCD) late in life. Be warned, though, before going any further, that although this album is musically great, it’s lyrics are mostly rubbish and in terms of vocal abilities, Per Johannson’s voice is grating at best. With regard to the concept, it’s only really clear that there’s a concept at all since the band points it out in the introductory sleeve notes! In terms of linear storytelling, it’s actually impossible to follow. Presented with a concept album with a medical theme, it’s hard not to think of Queensryche’s classic ‘Operation: Mindcrime’, but while Third Eye are gifted musicians, any hope they had of creating a 21st Century ‘Operation: Mindcrime’ seems to be lost in translation.

As a listener, you’re not broken in gently… ‘Solitary Confinement’ begins with a crunchy riff, combined with a punchy rhyhmic quality which quickly demonstrates the band’s musical abilities. A solid rocker, this it’s certainly one of the album’s more straight ahead pieces aside from an occasional off-kilter feel which helps bring it firmly into the progressive metal field. ‘Recipe For Disaster’ follows swiftly and things are taken up a couple of notches. Martin Damgaard’s complex drum work is one of the track’s main features – his angry double bass work provides a great deal of power. This track sees the first appearance of the growlier end of Per Johannson’s vocals; in places he alternates his wailing voice with an angry shouting. This shouting approach is possibly meant to represent the frustrations within the album’s central character; it doesn’t quite work though, and from a listener’s perspective, it soon becomes more than aggravating. ‘Dark Angel’ sounds better on the surface, as the vocals have been tempered a little. While Johannson’s voice is a strong one, it’s not the easiest to listen to – and even at its most melodic it’s has an edge which some may call “an acquired taste”.

‘Six Feet Under’ pretends at the outset that it’s the album’s big ballad. During the intro, it’s easier to spot why Johannson’s vocals have been compared to Queensryche’s Geoff Tate in another review – the lower part of his range bares a passing resemblance, albeit not a very tuneful one. However, anyone comparing Third Eye to Queensryche was likely just looking for an easy (for that, read ‘lazy’) comparison – like comparing all melodic rock bands to Bon Jovi or Def Leppard. Once the band take a heavier stance, ‘Six Feet Under’ loses most of his promise. The hard edged riffs can be heard better elsewhere on the album. ‘Eye of Envy’ provides a decent amount of riffing, this time leaning a little farther away from prog and farther towards power metal. While this is technically brilliant on all fronts, you’d be unlikely to reach for it before Symphony X, but it’s not hard to imagine big fans of Symphony X and Evergrey finding plenty to get their teeth into here. It’s also worth noting that one of the guitar solos is played by Finn Zierler (from the excellent goth/prog metal band Beyond Twilight).

‘Psychological Breakthrough’ reinforces the band’s power metal elements and as such is the album’s angriest moment. Again, lyrically it deals with the feelings of frustration within the protagonist, but sadly it has too much anger and no real direction. The lyrics comprise half-formed spite directed at a neighbour (“I say hello, you say goodbye / I smile and you send me a dead letter file”), backed up with lots of “You make me sick / I wanna spit it out” and “you stupid fuck”. Not good at all. At this point, any patience a lot of people might have had in this album could well be dwindling… In contrast, ‘Darkness Into Dawn’ features the band’s softer side. Andreas Schumann’s bass work is subtly funky – in fact, there are more subtle elements here than anywhere else on the album and it’s great to hear the band relax and stretch out, albeit temporarily. Per Johansson’s vocal is misplaced though – he still tackles his job at full pelt, oversinging at nearly every step. Business as usual for ‘Snake In The Grass’ and ‘Sacred and the Profane’: in a build up to the album’s big finish, Third Eye plod through a couple of pieces of prog metal by numbers, offering no variation on anything they’ve played previously.

Closing the album is the ten minute epic ‘The Psychiatrist’. After a slightly unsettling intro featuring a conversation between our protagonist and a futuristic automated medical machine, ringing guitars and an uncharacteristically melodic vocal come to the fore. The main riff has a solid chug which sounds natural between the verses and initially the track shows a great amount of promise (although Johannson’s voice creeps into annoying territory before too long). Beneath the heavy parts of the song, Andreas Schumann’s rolling bass work has a great deal of power and a few of the twin lead guitars recall mid-80s Iron Maiden (never a bad thing).
However, any of the track’s good points are undone once the second part of the song appears… Under his medical haze, we hear the thoughts in our protagonist’s mind: “Take this/Eat this/Drink this/Cat piss”… Cat piss? Surely they could have come up with something better? This is swiftly followed by “Do that/Do this/Take that/Read this/Take that/Who cares? They care!” and by this point, it’s hard to even care at all. Three guitar solos towards the end of the track restore some faith – one each played by Michael Bodin and Thomas Kuhllman, and one played by Finn Zierler.

‘Recipe For Disaster’ isn’t a terrible debut if you look at the big picture – it’s got some moments of fantastic musicianship and a great production job, especially considering it’s on a small label – but its weak points are very damaging to the end result.

May 2010

FIRECRACKER – Born of Fire

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Firecracker is a project featuring Stefan Lindholm and Pontus Larsson of Vindictiv and Tommy Korevik of Seventh Wonder.  Before looking at the songs, it needs to be noted that this CD comprises work recorded prior to Lindholm, Larsson and Korevik having any success – some sources claiming it to be a Vindictiv demo from 2005.  Regardless of that, though, ‘Born of Fire’ with its hybrid of Swedish style hard rock and progressive metal influences contains some stand out moments.

The opening of ‘Blind Date’ offers one of my favourite intros on the album, with Lindholm announcing his presence by offering a flurry of notes.  In contrast to the shreddy bits, his more melodic, vibrato-led work has a great tone (although sadly, throughout a proportion of this disc, it’s the faster and edgier styles he favours).  Tommy Korevik’s vocals are very confident, a hybrid of Dream Theater’s James LaBrie at his most tuneful (on the softer parts) and any number of prog-metal vocalists on the louder parts.  Despite not having a particularly original vocal approach, Korevik has a decent set of lungs and his style is perfectly suited to most of the material here.  Not to be outdone by Lindholm, the mid-section of this track features a blistering keyboard solo by Pontus Larsson, who in turn, almost gets upstaged by Lindholm once again, upon making return for another fretboard hammering.
‘Second Self’ begins with a melodic metal intro with a classic sound, reminiscent of mid-eighties Iron Maiden, before leaning farther towards progressive metal once Korevik begins singing.  There are some off-kilter rhythms during this number and Hasse Wuzzel’s drum work is the key here with its double bass parts.  During ‘Gamekeeper’s Song’, though, some of the drums are so aggressively pneumatic, I’m not entirely convinced they haven’t been subject to some pre-programmed assistance or some post-production studio trickery.  A pity, since some of the more aggressive drum parts of this song seem to detract from one of Korevik’s best performances – especially from a melodic viewpoint.
The first of two instrumental numbers, ‘Instru(metal)’, gives each of the musicians time to stretch out.  If you’re looking for metal guitar work, Lindholm’s performance throughout this number is first rate (if a little wearing in places); Wuzzel’s drums take the pneumatic approach once again, but here they’re far less intrusive.  Larsson’s keyboard work is an equal match for Lindholm’s fretboard theatrics and those who enjoy prog-metal keyboard solos should enjoy this, especially those who enjoy keyboard word at the more squealy, extreme end of the spectrum.  The only downside is that bassist Frederik Forlkare sounds like he’s contributed some really decent work here; but sadly, his bass is so low in the mix it’s hard to pick out the intricacies of his playing, especially once Lindholm and Larsson get going.
‘Back Broken’ begins slowly with a chugging rhythm, before Linholm starts soloing frantically. This track seems to lose its way fairly quickly due to an odd time signature and a vocal melody which Korevik struggles to make scan properly. Despite this, his performance still remains decent. The interplay between Lindholm and Larsson is tight (as Vindictiv fans should expect), but it’s not quite enough to maintain interest over the song’s near six-minute playing time.  ‘The Refrain’ begins with a strong melodic bent, as Korevik delivers an effortless performance.  Unusually, Lindholm’s guitar work is far more restrained, complimenting Wazzel’s sporadic drum rhythms very well.  Korevik’s voice occasionally lapses into theatrical grandeur, but even so, it’s a track which best demonstrates his range.  By the time it comes to the guitar solo, Lindholm steps things up a gear (as expected), contributing edgy playing which is tempered nicely with more melodic moments.
Closing the album, ‘Speed Devil’ does exactly what is says on the tin.  In a textbook example of Swedish metal (a la Yngwie Malmsteen), Lindholm and Larsson trade off guitar and keyboard solos respectively, seemingly as fast as they can manage while retaining a tune.  Not being a musician myself, I find it harder to appreciate this on a technical level even though there’s clearly a truck-load of skill involved.  If I’m going to listen to virtuoso instrumental rock stuff, I’d much rather spend time listening to Gary Hoey, Jan Cyrka or Eric Johnson – y’know, the chaps who approach things from a song-based angle, even if they’re playing instrumentally.
Despite most of the musicianship being top notch, I’ve always found similar levels of shredding hard to cope with in long doses (especially true when it comes to stuff like ‘Speed Devil’) and a few more obvious vocal hooks and choruses would have made this all the more appealing.  That said (personal preferences aside), as an album, ‘Born of Fire’ achieves its goals.  Forget the chaps from Vindictiv, though: it’s Tommy Korevik who is the big draw here (for me, at least) and fans of Seventh Wonder should give this a listen – especially if they’ve not heard any of this material previously.

April 2010

SILENT CALL – Greed

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Sometimes when a label which chiefly deals with AOR and melodic acts releases something they term “progressive metal”, it’s not usually progressive metal as such.  It’s more likely to be a bunch of Yngwie Malmsteen enthusiasts/ex-collaboators churning out similar neo-classical work, but delivered with a slightly bigger punch (see Artension and Ring of Fire for starters).  With Silent Call, this is not the case. ‘Greed’ is their second release and frankly, it’s a monster.  Throughout the album, each member of the band gives their all, but the real stars are Andi Kravljaca (ex-Seventh Wonder) on vocals and guitarist Daniel Ekholm.

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BRAINDANCE – Fear Itself

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When I first heard this band back in the mid-nineties, they sounded like the most intense, frenzied and adventurous band to be associated with the progressive metal scene. Back then, aside from a handful of American bands breaking through (spearheaded as always by the mighty Dream Theater), it was still a very much niche subgenre.

Obviously, since that time, the prog-metal scene has become huge, with lots of bands springing up; mostly from mainland Europe and mostly with female singers fusing progessive metal roots with gothic metal and neo-operatic influences. In 1995, one of the first bands I heard doing anything similar were Braindance and over a decade later, they still remain somehow more inventive than any of their contemporaries.

Hailing from NYC, Braindance aren’t your typical prog-metal band. Progressive metal it may be, but the band bill themselves as ‘cinematic new romantic progressive new age gothic metal fusion’. Intrigued? Slightly confused? (Anyone who says ‘no’ is a liar).

Aside from their refusal to be musically pigeon-holed, they also create a mystique around themselves. According to an early press release from the mid-nineties, their then bassist, Eiki Matsumoko, claimed to be ‘a multi-disciplined warrior transplanted from Japan, who proceeds with a focused attack unparalleled in the realm of electric energy’. It would appear that everyday sanity is all but a past luxury for this man. Based upon his work on the earlier Braindance releases, he is, however, an excellent bassist; as you’d imagine, his complicated bass parts compliment the work of Braindance’s drumming bod, Notorious (who remained with the band until 1998), perfectly. Notorious (I’ll bet his real name is Lionel), plays a combination of acoustic and electronic drums and by the time I discovered Braindance, he’d been playing in bands on the NY club scene for over a decade. His style of playing is strong, but occasionally erratic, as you’d expect from someone specializing in this style of progressive metal.

Sebastian Elliot (vocals), is a singer with a fantastic range. Sounding like a cross between Queensryche’s Geoff Tate and the late Geoff Mann of UK cult prog-pop heroes Twelfth Night, would ensure that he would be a great front man for many prog outfits; for Braindance, however, this is not enough. For maximum effect, he also sings in a very deep baritone, bringing in a strong goth-metal influence (Type O Negative spring to mind regularly).

Vora Vor is the band’s guitarist and by 1995 was a veteran of the NY rock club scene and classical concert stage. Her playing can only be described as amazing. Playing heavy, crunching riffs interspersed with fast, widdly (technical term) solos, she gives the band a serious cutting edge. Left with the difficult task of holding the band together is Robynne Naylor (the last to join the band in 1996), who creates a blanket of swirly keyboards for Vora to play over.

The first commercial release for Braindance was the cassette only EP, ‘Shadows’, in 1994. Boasting five tracks in over 40 minutes, the band
takes the listener through a variety of moods, each one as intense as the one before. The opening number, ‘Awareness’, kicks in with a woman screaming followed by a chunky Dream Theater style riff, followed by trippy keyboard work. This mixture of light and heavy is typical of the band’s work on this early release (which finally became available as mp3s in 2008).

Of the other songs featured on the EP, ‘To Live In Shadow’ carries on from where ‘Awareness’ finished; ‘All Fall Down’ has to be Braindance’s answer to Queensyche’s ‘Silent Lucidity’ (so that’ll appeal to the soppies among you) and ‘Tears’ is a six minute soundscape of keyboards, which is preferable to it being a cover of that crappy song from Rush’s ‘2112’.

That brings us up to speed and Braindance’s debut full length CD, ‘Fear Itself’. While there are lots of elements here which are similar to the ‘Shadows’ EP, for this album the band have opted for a far more goth-metal approach, with the Type O Negative influences more upfront.
The album begins with a man giving a huge speech regarding aliens landing on Earth and throughout the album, samples are used to great effect. There are samples here of Darth Vader (yay!) and Richard Briers. How did a goth-prog-metal fusion band from New York end up with a Richard Briers sample?!

‘Crime & Punishment’ focuses on the bands electronica influnces. A keyboard led piece, it manages to feel both cinematic and ambient.
With only a keyboard, a pulse beat and samples to carry it, you’d think it’d drag and feel like filler, but somehow it holds the listener’s attention and provides respite from the more intense moments of ‘Fear Itself’. This leads into ‘One’, a brooding ballad which sounds like Pete Steele fronting Dream Theater. The mid section, featuring chorus vocals works excellently with both male and female voices. The only downside is that is rather brief. The title track is mostly instrumental and has a pulsing nature on the slower sections. While essentially a showcase for Vor’s guitar, it features brief, Yes-inspired vocals.
‘Compound Fracture’ is a very much a centrepiece for ‘Fear Itself’. This thirteen minute epic features some fantastic guitar work. Rhythmically, it’s one of the album’s most complex pieces.

For me, the true standout moments include the slightly arabic feel on the vocal melodies of ‘Only A Moment’ and the goth-pop of ‘Voices Are Calling’, which turns all neo-progressive rock at the end, like a hybrid of Shadow Gallery and classic Yes (reprising the vocal section from the title track). In reality, though, ‘Fear Itself’ is a disc with something to offer most fans of progressive metal.

If you’d like to know more about Braindance, visit their website.

January 2010 (Some material written for Fastlane magazine, late 1996)