Dead End

Wow. This is one of the best albums I've heard in a long time. Two words: Back-up vocals. Okay, that might be three words, but my point is -- Wow (again). This album has some of the most outstanding backing vocal arrangements I can remember. They just really did it right. It's not the typical high harmony stuff, but rather these great moody accent vocals that really punctuate the choruses in all the right places. It's subtle, but a lot of bands out there could take a lesson here. The singer has a small trace of an accent, but it doesn't bother me at all. And even though his voice can be a little nasally and raw, he is using it so well, with all these long, sustained, drawn out notes, that his performance is actually one of the highlights of the album. The rest of the disc more than holds it's own with some really great songs, played by some astonishingly talented (They're all in their early 20s!) musicians. The music has all the trademark elements of being euro, progressive power metal, but there is also a newness to it. Tracks like The Forgotten, Nevermore and my personal favorite, A Shadow in the Dark, really stick with you even after the album is over. This band has everything they need to just take over this genre. Progressive metal fans ... meet the future. --Scott