Let me state beforehand that I am no fan of prog metal because I find it rather boring music. Yes, this type of music often starts off nice, with much power and interesting compositional lines and many solos until the singer kicks in (often sounding like a pig being violated in horrible ways) and you discover that the opening tones and solos are repeated time and time and time again until the band sounds like Dream Theater. That is the moment I reach for the off button and put in a CD of Enya. Italian band Atto IV starts off the same way and I am already starting to get in a foul mood until the singer opens his mouth ... and emits a really pleasant sound without accent. Also, the music evolves gradually, from indeed pure prog metal in opener The Persistence Of Memories toward more and more heavy prog (which is not the same as prog metal!). Two suites, The Mind's Arabesque (20 minutes) and The Voyager (15 minutes, with maybe a bit too much Dream Theater in there) also make this a different than usual CD because the band takes the time to evolve the suite while putting in a lot of fusion and having quite an intellectual concept (the underlying theme of the album is man himself, his contradictions and idiosyncrasies) which is just plain nice. This music grows on you and becomes more interesting with each song, making Shattered Lines a perfect record for the heavy and fusion oriented progger who likes his Dream Theater and also Rush with a bit more adventure. ***+ André de Waal (edited by Robert James Pashman) Where to buy? |
