novAct - Tales From The Soul

Ken Golden is the man! For those unaware, he is the owner of three separate labels under one roof. The Laser’s Edge focuses on progressive rock (White Willow, A Triggering Myth, Wobbler), Sensory is for progressive metal (Zero Hour, Redemption, Wastefall) and Free Electric Sound is set aside for progressive fusion (At War With Self). I praise him solely because everything I’ve heard from either label has been excellent. Ken Golden knows good prog when he hears it, and he doesn’t simply go for bands that sound the same. He often signs bands that offer something a bit different within the prog field. Behind The Curtain for example, sounds like no other prog band I’ve heard before. The same can be said about A Triggering Myth and even Wobbler, to an extent. Even if similarities exist, such as with Zero Hour and the upcoming Twisted Into Form, the music is always killer. Recently I came upon novAct, a prog-rock/metal outfit out of the Netherlands. I ordered Tales From The Soul shortly thereafter and it’s been in heavy rotation for the past two months.

The band formed in 2001 under the name Morgana-X. They released a three song live rehearsal demo, then a follow-up promo EP called Misunderstood (which Roy (guitars) kindly sent me. Thanks, dude!). They then changed their named to novAct, showcased two tracks on a split compilation called Arnhem Trolleymetaal, and finally in 2005 released this, their first full-length, Tales From The Soul.

"Sharply Condemned" kicks things off with a heavy, driving riff, melodic bridges and a lush, heavy prog-rock tapestry coolly painted by Eddy Borremans’s outstanding vocals. Truly, it’s only when vocalist Eddy Borremans begins to sing that you realize there is something special about novAct. To say that Borremans is a unique vocalist in the rock/metal world is almost an understatement. I’ve read that he compares to Queensrÿche’s Geoff Tate, Pain Of Salvation’s Daniel Gildenlow, and Andy Kuntz from Vanden Plas and Abydos, among others. None are accurate, if you ask me. If I had to pinpoint a similarity in vocal style it would a heavier version of Roland Gift of the Fine Young Cannibals—gasp!—and the clean tones of the legendary Otis Redding. Maybe this isn’t the sort of thing a metal fan wants to hear, but that’s what I hear.

Tales From The Soul is, simply put, an amazing album. From progressive rock/metal anthems like "Hope And Fear," the Jeff Buckley tribute "The Eternal," "Path Of Daggers" and the heaviest track on the album, "The Rider," to the more melodic songs like the goth-influenced "Flower," it is clear novAct rival the greatest prog-rock/metal bands out there today. The slight gothic touches reminiscent of To/Die/For adds yet another dynamic that makes this band stand out from the pack. The interwoven guitars and keyboards create space for Borremans’s stunning vocals; the solo work is precise and fits perfectly, beautifully. The bass and drum work don’t go on any proggy tantrums, but they hold it all together, creating a solid foundation for the stars of the show: the guitars, keyboards and vocals.

Everything about this album is brilliant. From the music to the production, lyrics and artwork; it’s all outstanding. I’ve had this album for quite a while now, I’ve listened to it virtually every day since and its quality has not diminished yet, it sparkles brighter after each listen. Not only is this one of the best prog-rock/metal albums I’ve ever heard, its undoubtedly one of the best albums I’ve ever heard overall. Nothing more needs to be said. Ken Golden couldn’t have a more appropriate last name (clearly his first name is great, too), novAct and Tales From The Soul are both simply that: Golden.

Band note: Since writing this review in 2005, novAct have sadly broken up.

Video: Sharply Condemned (Live), The Rider (Live)
Audio: The Rider, Eternal Life (different version taken from the Morgana-X Misunderstood promo)

Website: http://www.novact.nl
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/novact

Note: Many of these links are external. In time, they may become obsolete.

Pathogen - Bloodline

When one thinks of melodic death metal’s roots, Sweden would likely come to mind. And that would essentially be true, though it’s simply the accepted and widely believed answer. A world away, Australia’s Pathogen has studied well the teachings of Sweden’s melodic death metal masters. Upon hearing Bloodline, their debut full-length, it’s hard to imagine the band comes from that unlikely locale.

The band formed in 1995 and quickly released two demos, Tyranny Of Hatred (1996) and Nightfall (1998). It took the band seven more years to release anything other than a single song, "Shallow," in 2000. The band never broke up during that period, they just chose to hone their skills and evolve as musicians. The result is thirteen solid slabs of melodic death metal with a little bit of standard death metal a big dose of aggressive thrash. Five songs from the Nightfall demo, and two songs from the Tyranny Of Hatred demo, have been re-recorded for Bloodline.

The album opener is an instrumental by the "name" of "…" (an ellipsis), a great two-and-a-half minute melodic dirge that leads into the blistering "Identity Theft." The first true song on the album is a brilliant example of what melodic death metal should be; there’s a heavy mid-paced groove broken up by melodic interludes and death metal runs, and throat-shredding vocal work that harkens back to Whoracle-era In Flames. All the same can be said about "Beyond Repent." They’re followed by "Bleeding Eye," a song showcasing more of the same, but at a faster pace littered with blastbeats. The first truly melodic song is "Fallen Kind," similar to In Flames’ "Moonshield." The seven-minute plus epic "Shallow" acts almost like a bridge between the first half of the album and the second. The song itself is a text book stunner, offering everything from brutal heaviness, to beautiful acoustic passages, grooves aplenty, and sick vocals that slowly build to an explosive crescendo.

Here the album begins to shift directions. "Eviscerated" comes out swinging like a lost Kreator track, more thrash than anything else and it rules. More thrash groove permeates from "C.O.W."—formerly titled "My Little Cow." "Nightfall" is a poignant melodic piece, carried by an outstanding solo. The final three songs are speed bumps in the flow of the album. Neither song is bad by any means, but they’re each a step down from the previous tracks. "Bleed My Soul, Pt. 1" has its fair share of moments, but is marred in spots from a simple groove that fails to grab the listener. "Warchild" follows a similar path, but it’s a better tune with only a few flaws. The last real song on the album is the one that disappoints me the most; "Tyranny Of Hatred" takes six minutes to kick in—and only lasts about a minute—but at that point it’s too late, the rest of the song just putters along with a slow, pounding groove with vocals more like a death metal growl than a melodic death metal scream. It just doesn’t work for me. Like the opening intro, the album closes with another great instrumental of the same name, this one all acoustic.

Bloodline is a great album, make no mistakes. The biggest flaws come from songs written ten years ago, which makes me wish the band just let some of those songs go in favor of newer music. However, some killer tunes have come from those early demos as well, namely "Beyond Repent," "C.O.W." and "Nightfall," and, like I mentioned, even those that I feel are flawed are not bad songs. Hopefully Pathogen won’t take another seven years between releases; I’d like to hear what they come up with on an album of all new material. As it stands, Bloodline is, for the most part, a great album of old school melodic death metal in the tradition of early In Flames, Dark Tranquillity and At The Gates.

Sadly, the album isn’t that easy to find in the US. At the suggestion of Aiden (Pathogen’s guitarist), the cheapest I found was from Singapore’s Pulverised Records (a great, honest label). I went through their eBay Store and was able to acquire it for a total of $16, about $10 less than most other places that were selling it. The price is well worth it.

Video: Beyond Repent
Audio: Identity Theft, Beyond Repent, Shallow, Fallen Kind, Bleeding Eye

Website: http://www.pathogen.com.au
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/pathogen

Note: Many of these links are external. In time, they may become obsolete.

Angra - Aurora Consurgens

Angra has never really impressed me much. They're a very good power metal band, but there's nothing really mind-blowing about them. I enjoy their albums, but I'd never pay a lot for one of them, which is precisely why it's taken me so long to get this album.

Aurora Consurgens is Angra's most recent album, released in 2006. Right off the bat it's clear that this album is the band's heaviest, and although the band has been labeled a progressive power metal band in the past, this is the first album that I can really hear that progressive style coming through. At least enough to slap on that progressive label. After a few listens, I'm also confident in saying Aurora Consurgens is one of the band's best to date. It doesn't change my opinion of the band, however; they're still just an everyday power metal band.

One could do far worse than checking out Angra, so I do recommend them to fans of power metal. Just don't raise those expectations too high and you'll find some quality metal in this band.

Video: The Course Of Nature
Video: The Voice Commanding You

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/angraofficial

Note: Many of these links are external. In time, they may become obsolete.

Furbowl - The Autumn Years

The year 1999 spawned an album called Moontower, it came bearing the name Dan Swanö—allegedly the only album that ever will. This album was hailed as one of the first true progressive death metal albums for its flawless mix of 70’s-influenced prog rock and death metal. A true masterpiece, indeed. But in 1994, an album by the name of The Autumn Years did virtually the very same thing. The band was called Furbowl.

Furbowl—what’s in a name?—is an oddity. To find a category to place this band in is almost impossible. The band consistently denied that they were a death metal band, though conceded to the fact that they would inevitably be placed in that category. In general terms, this would be correct, but what is it that makes it so hard to truly categorize this band? Well, they’re not one of anything, but more of many things. The label death-influenced progressive rock/metal I placed on this band sounds ridiculous I admit, but it’s simply meant to give you insight into what this band sounds like. I said they were an oddity, and they truly were, but a good one, and a band worth checking out.

The band formed around 1990 under the name Devourment, but four short years later, after releasing The Autumn Years, the band lost their singer who went on the form a new band. They briefly changed their name to Wonderflow, but never released anything and quickly disbanded. The singer in question was Johan Axelsson (aka Johan Liiva), most notable for his work with Hearse and Arch Enemy—which, incidentally, was the band he helped form after leaving Furbowl. In their short existence, Furbowl managed to release four demo tapes, an EP entitled Those Shredded Dreams—which features a Michael Amott (Arch Enemy) solo on two songs—and The Autumn Years.

I first heard this band in 1994 on a Carolina Records sampler CD—which I still have—called I Hear Ya - Winter Sampler 1994–1995. The song featured was "Weakend." The song began with a simple bass line and then kicked in with a burly "Oh yeah," which was followed by a quiet, creepy verse and then a riff-heavy pre-chorus and a catchy, galloping styled chorus. What caught me off guard was the middle of the song, here it switches to a soft, melancholic strumming punctuated by a killer, yet beautiful solo! I was hooked immediately and quite interested to hear how the rest of the album would sound. A band that could include these seemingly disparate styles, and make them work together so well, was intriguing to me, to say the least, as I’d only just begun to branch out and really try different genres of music outside of my few favorite bands.

Though I’d had it downloaded for ages, it took me a long while to find an actual copy of this CD, which I managed to find this past July. Like I said previously, when I’d first heard the song "Weakend" over ten years ago, I was intrigued. But from the opening moment of "Bury The Hatchet"—with its heavy, bluesy feel, strengthened by Liiva’s unique, quasi-death-like howl—I was thoroughly hooked. The songs on the album are groovy, fast and heavy, and showcase some amazing lead work throughout. "Dead & Gone" features a fuckin violin solo! All of the songs generally mix progressive rock with death metal, but most, like "Dead & Gone," offer up some unique, unexpected elements which keeps the album interesting; just slight twists in the program, even some dark, punk moments (gasp!). The album closes with the acoustic instrumental "Road Less Travelled," and the dark, brooding "Still Breathing." At this point you’d be hard-pressed not to hit the Repeat button.

Unfortunately, Furbowl remain virtually unknown having been so from their inception. This was a truly unique band at the time, and they remain so today. The closest resemblance being Entombed with their trademark death ‘n’ roll style. That is still not an accurate comparison, nor is Dan Swanö’s Moontower, but they’re both valid starting points if you're interested.

Video: Desertion (from Those Shredded Dreams)

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/furbowl

Note: Many of these links are external. In time, they may become obsolete.

Simon Says - Tardigrade

This was a blind buy. There was a short-lived American alt-rock band called Simon Says that formed in the late 90s, but I could tell by the cover art that this had to be a different band. With SPV and Progrock Records being involved, that settled matters. I don't often buy albums without listening to a good number of the tracks first, especially at full price, but Progrock Records is a label that generally always releases albums that appeal to my tastes. And Tardigrade is another hit.

This Simon Says is from Sweden, and apparently it's a studio project, not a band. But they're still a prog fan's dream. Tardigrade is the band's third concept album, again based in a fantasy world that their first album and parts of their second album was based in. You can find the full story of Tardigrade here. Musically they're very similar to The Flower Kings, Puppet Show, The Tangent, and many others. So not original. But they are very good.

Website: http://www.paradisesquare.net
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/simonsayssweden

Note: Many of these links are external. In time, they may become obsolete.

Triarchy - Broken Dreams (EP)

Though Triarchy formed in 2001, these Brazilians have managed to only come up with two songs since. That may sound a bit ridiculous, but the band sat dead in the water for a good portion of the past few years due to the departure of a few members and not being able to find suitable replacements. It wasn’t until 2004 that the band found themselves in a position to record some music. The result was 2005’s Broken Dreams EP, two tracks of high-quality doom death.

The bands plays a slow, haunting form of doom death with some very somber and melancholic orchestration. The production is excellent, with varying vocal styles and instrumentation mixing flawlessly. Vocal duties are split between Juliana Hernandes (clean) and Pablo Castelar (clean/death); typical of the genre, but executed very well. The guitars are heavy and melodic; the bass stands out from the mix, which adds an unconventional flare to the music. Subtle keyboard/piano work meanders throughout each song, creating nice textures that resonate with the lugubrious atmosphere of the short EP. The drums hold it all together and are fairly standard in style, though some double-bass does manage to work its way into the music, most notably on "Emotional Daze."

Both "Broken Dreams" and "Emotional Daze" follow a similar path of slow- to mid-paced doom metal punctuated by clean, sepulchral male singing, death metal growls and ethereal female vocals. The dynamics of the songs are bolstered by some stylistic shifts, albeit short, such as the solo and piano-driven breakdown in "Broken Dreams", or the more traditional death metal blast beats of "Emotional Daze."

With only two songs to base an opinion off of, it may not be indicative of what the future holds for Triarchy. But one can only assume the future is promising for this young band. You won’t find anything original on this EP, and those who’re not interested in this style of music won’t find anything here that will change their mind. But for those who do enjoy this style, what you will find is an excellent display of doom death, especially for a young band. Alongside some of the best of the genre, Broken Dreams is quite a worthy release. I sincerely hope the band gets a full-length out soon and it doesn’t take another four years for just two more songs.

Note: This review was written in 2005. Sadly, no recording updates have been issued by the band since that time.

Video: Broken Dreams
Audio: Broken Dreams, Emotional Daze

Website: http://www.triarchy.com.br
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/triarchy

Note: Many of these links are external. In time, they may become obsolete.

Darkwater - Calling The Earth To Witness

A while back I picked up Dreaming Awake by Sweden's Harmony through the trading website lala.com. It was a blind pick-up, but I was pretty impressed with the album. The band played a brand of power metal with a slight progressive edge, one that on the surface reminded me of Circus Maxiumus, but lacked that heavy progressive sound. The band Darkwater, consisting of four of the five members of Harmony, takes the progressive banner and raises it high. What Harmony is only on the surface, Darkwater is through and through. They don't break the mold that bands like Zero Hour and Wastefall and the aforementioned Circus Maximus create, but they do reinforce it.

Calling The Earth To Witness is Darkwater's debut, having only released one song prior—in 2004—on a compilation called The Sweet...According To Sweden. The album is nine songs deep (one being a short intro), and clocks in at just under sixty-nine minutes. "All Eyes On Me"—preceded by the short intro "2534167"—sets the progressive metal bar high; crushing guitar and drum work (very solid, heavy tones on both), powerful vocals with thick, lush harmonies, subtle keyboard flourishes that create depth, outstanding lead work, and—most importantly—brilliant songwriting. "Again" and "Habit" step up next and land a perfect one-two combination, with the latter pushing the thirteen-minute mark, showing a more dynamic and experimental style. Darkwater doesn't deviate from this heavy progressive style on the whole of the album, but they do add some different elements from song to song to keep things fresh: the short piano ballad "The Play, Pt. 1," the aggressive and keyboard-heavy "Shattered," a little acoustic guitar work and a cappella on "Tallest Tree."

While not breaking new ground, Calling The Earth To Witness is a formidable album in the field of progressive metal. While so many bands of this genre have too many loose ends flapping around while they try too hard to create something "progressive," Darkwater manages to keep things compelling and dynamic without getting sloppy. It's not always easy to make something memorable and tasty when so many ingredients are used, but Darkwater will both satiate and keep you hungry for more.

Video: The Play, Pt. 2
Audio: Again (Edit), Shattered (Clip), Tallest Tree (Clip)

Website: http://www.darkwater.se
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/darkwaterofficial

Note: Many of these links are external. In time, they may become obsolete.