In a portion of the world where there is much turmoil and uncertainty comes a melodic beacon of hope and light. This band is known as The Light Year. Coming out of the area between the Black Sea and Caspian Sea in the country of Georgia, it is certain that no matter how much turmoil, progressive rock has tentacles in Georgia.
The Light Year Steps Of Life is one of those progressive masterpieces that come from out of nowhere once every 5 to 10 years. The Light Year are a band at the crossroads of Enchant and Transatlantic meets Pain of Salvation and Porcupine Tree. The Light Year combine very modern neo progressive elements with vintage hard rock/heavy metal with a twist of vintage progressive rock elements. The Light Year combine Arabic, Oriental and near Eastern influences with Western power progressive rock/metal elements.
Steps of Life begins with a powerful progressive symphonic instrumental track called Tornado 1 which starts off like the opening of a cinematic production. Tornado 1 has various hooks and instrumental melody. It reminds me a little of Liquid Tension Experiment at times. Tornado 1 charges right ahead in a progressive frenzy setting up track 2 Steps to Life.
Steps of Life starts off as a well articulate Acapella voice composition. At about the 1:16 mark the keyboard comes in with another layer to add to the vocal melody. At the 2:35 mark the track gains a acoustic guitar layer to be joined by the rhythmic section at the 3:35 mark. At about the 4:30 mark the track takes on a Peter Gabriel rhythmic vibe building the track to a up tempo track at this point. About the 5:35 mark it takes on a Spock’s Beard sounding track. At the 7:15 mark the track takes on a neo progressive vibe much like the band Enchant.
Tornado 2 starts off with a thunderous rhythmic section. The keyboards are executed quite well as a percussive rhythmic instrument instead of the status quo stringed sectional style instrumental. Tornado 2 like Tornado 1 is a instrumental in a cinematic style. The album starts taking on a conceptual sound at this time. Tornado 2 has some seriously heavy fusion elements going on with the composition all the through much like Planet X or Gordion Knot At 4:55 mark there appears a choir as more of a chant instrument even more so than a vocal.
Steps Reprise is a very well arranged and well placed track to bridge into the next track Side.
Side opens a lot like Yes with lush vocal layers engineered with a well rounded rhythmic section and the keyboard and acoustic guitar giving the track absolution. At the 2:35 mark the track really takes a very up tempo melody to harmony exchange. Side goes in and out from up tempo one moment to a down tempo the next moment. Side has that later Pink Floyd sound of the 1980’s. This track has some light alternative elements to it as well.
Dark Times starts out with a serious down tuned alternative sound. The vocal takes on a abstract atmosphere through a minimalist filter. Dark Times displays a less in more attitude and with various time signatures and breaks. With every break pause the track adds or subtracts various layers. Towards the end the track is blistering with some very heavy progressions and time signatures.
Damskerland is a mellow acoustic track. Although the vocals are being sung here they also sound a little in the realm of spoken word making it easy for the listener to grasp the story of Damskerland. This has almost a Dust In The Wind style about it.
Love Without Love begins with a sitar oriental sound to start off with this mini epic. About the 2:32mark the track takes on a mellow guitar atmosphere. The warmth of the vocals appear to be filtered through the keyboard although they are not. Love Without Love reminds me of a little longer Kayleigh or Easter from Marillion. It has a great flute at the 6:45 mark and rain stick sound giving it a really heavy near to far Eastern sound. At the 8:44 mark the track takes a symphonic approach almost like a movie soundtrack. This is perhaps the most eclectic track on the album.
Digital Dream opens subtly with a fade in drum percussion passage. Soon they electric guitar and keyboards take on a very heavy jazz prog fusion vibe. This track is like Buddy Guy and Miles Davis and Steely Dan rolled in one. The track soon breaks instrumentally and a spoken word section appears right before the free form prog jazz fusion takes off again. At the 4:30 mark the track takes on a vibe progression like Pain Of Salvation with the vocal arrangement.
My Lord picks up right where Digital Dream left off however, with a more distorted progression. The vocals sound heavily like John Wetton in King Crimson. The band even ventures into areas of funk with their progressions. At times it sounds like the instruments are talking back and forth from one another. There is a lot of twists and turns you do not know where the band is going with the track. About the 5:00 mark this track drops off some for a refined piano and keyboard atmosphere. Soon after sounds of nature like the birds in a forest chirping give the track depth and emotion. The character in this story starts to quietly question life on a lyrical level. About the 8:00 mark there is some heavy psychedelic elements instrumentally supporting the lyrical narrative. The track ends with a nice fluid cinematic ending.
Sky Way starts with a beautiful lush piano intro as if the instrument is isolated. Soon a partial spoken word partially sung vocal comes in. Soon after a calm guitar and languid rhythm section kicks in and the track takes almost a ballad style. This is a track of personal reflection lyrically. Sky Way has potential for the listener audience to sing this back to the band in a live setting.
Tornado 3 is a overall reflection of the album. Little portions of every track before it appear within the span of a 1:15. This is a heavy 1:15 as well.
The Light Year have made a statement on Steps of Life. This band mixes a little bit of the old with the new to form there own unique sound. The even bridge Eastern and Western musical styles into a well craft progressive music brew. I am giving this album a 4/5.
Band Bio Courtesy (Midnight Eternal Official Facebook Page) Midnight Eternal is a symphonic metal band based out of New York City. It was formed in March of 2014 when two members of Operatika (Richard Fischer and Boris Zaks) invited Daniel Prestup (Rivera Bomma, Spider Rockets) and Mike LePond (Symphony X) to join them in recording a two-song demo. During the recording, the band acquired the talents of vocalist Raine Hilai based on her previous work in theater and her solo endeavor. The planned demo quickly evolved into the formation of a full-time band when it became apparent the group had something special on their hands. Shortly thereafter, Greg Manning (of Spider Rockets, Zamora) joined the band as permanent member taking over bass duties.
Shortly after releasing their demo, which featured the songs “When Love and Faith Collide” and “Masquerade of Lies”, the band began to receive numerous offers and booked a number of high caliber shows. In the years 2014 and 2015, Midnight Eternal shared the stage with Kamelot, Dragonforce, Sonata Arctica, Delain, Xandria, Doro, The Agonistand Quiet Riot, among others. Late 2015, the band hit the studio to record their debut album.
My Review
There are symphonic metal bands, power metal bands, progressive metal bands, classically influenced and trained metal musicians. Then there are bands that know how to take all those elements and disciplines and perfectly balance them into their own unique sound. This is what New York’s own Midnight Eternal have done on their self titled debut Midnight Eternal. Founded in March of 2014 Midnight Eternal have already had a crash course like multiple year veterans sharing the stage with bands such as Kamelot, Dragonforce, Sonata Arctica, Delain, Xandria, Doro, The Agonist and Quiet Riot.
It was sharing those stages and hours of rehearsals that gave the band that unique quality to forge their own sound that would manifest itself into one of the strongest debut albums I have heard in 15 years. It was if they have taken a concerto orchestra and transcribed it on to heavy guitars, bass, drums and vocals. Not like a opera but like a supporting multi piece instrumental orchestra in the supporting act of a musical.
Although the tracks seem short in length at times, the listener still has a epic listening experience through various time signatures and change progressions. The first track Till The Bitter End there are some various spoken word portions blended within the composition. Then you have a power metal clinic with track 2 Repentance . There is a anthem vibe track 3 Signs Of Fire.
There is always a hook or unpredictable harmony or melody around the corner of every track on the album. The harmonies are executed with clarity and the instrumental melodies compliment those harmonies with grace and poise. The rhythm sections and blast beats are insane and tight in some places especially on the track Shadows Fall. Midnight Eternal Midnight Eternal is definitely a band for fans of Kamelot, Blind Guardian, Delain, Nightwish and Xandria. This album gets a 4.5/5 and could be a heavy contender for Debut Album Of 2016.
Label : Inner Wound Recordings Release Year: 2016 Country: International Genre: Progressive/Melodic/Power Metal
Band Members
Elina Laivera – Vocals Henrik Bath – [Darkwater] – Vocals Michael Alexander – Guitars/Growls Alex Landenburg – [Luca Turilli’s Rhapsody, Octayne 21] – Drums
Guest Musicians
Nils K Rue [Pagan’s Mind] – Vocals on “Bargain of Lost Souls” Mark Jansen [Epica, Mayan] – Growls on “Anthem For Freedom”, “Truth” and “Dreamstate” Charlie Dominici [ex. Dream Theater] – Vocals on “The Jaguar Priest” Diego Valdez [Helker] – Vocals on “Awakened By The Light” and “Seven” Alessandro Bissa [Vision Divine] – Drums on “Dreamstate”, “Anthem For Freedom”, “Awakened By The Light”, “Bargain Of Lost Souls” and “Truth” Mike LePond [Symphony X] – Bass on “Truth” and “The Force Of Our Creation” Emanuele Casali [DGM] – Keyboards on all tracks Johan Reinholz [Andromeda]- Guitar solo on “The Force Of Our Creation” 07:08-07:30
Track listing:
01. Anthem For Freedom 02. Truth 03. The Bargain Of Lost Souls 04. Dreamstate 05. Awakened By The Light (Universal Mind) 06. A World That Burns 07. Seven 08. The Jaguar Priest 09. The Force Of Our Creation 10. Xibalba
Ever since I heard about the Universal Mind Project back in 2013 my anticipation has been nothing short than exiciting. The anticipation and wait were well worth it. The Universal Mind Project is very well appropriately named. The core of Elina Laivera , Michael Alexander , Henrik Bath and Alex Landenberg carefully selected the right talent as guest musicians on Universal Mind Project The Jaguar Priest. Considering the line up of vocalists as Nils K Rue [Pagan’s Mind] – Vocals on “Bargain of Lost Souls” , Mark Jansen [Epica, Mayan] – Growls on “Anthem For Freedom”,“Truth” and “Dreamstate” , Charlie Dominici [ex. Dream Theater] – Vocals on “The JaguarPriest” , Diego Valdez a [Helker] – Vocals on “Awakened By The Light” and “Seven”and on the instrumentalists side, Alessandro Bissa [Vision Divine] – Drums on “Dreamstate”, “Anthem For Freedom”, “Awakened By The Light”, “Bargain Of Lost Souls” and “Truth” , Mike LePond [Symphony X] – Bass on “Truth” and “The Force Of Our Creation” , Emanuele Casali [DGM] – Keyboards on all tracks , Johan Reinholz [Andromeda]- Guitar solo on “The Force Of Our Creation” 07:08-07:30. It makes for the perfect tools for the canvas of such masterpiece.
On Universal Mind Project The Jaguar Priest,Elina Laivera has clearly established herself as a force to be reckoned with as a vocalist, songwriter and lyricist. It is also good to see Elina Laivera find a home and outlet for her genius and talent. Her partner in crime in the songwriting department Michael Alexander has definitely set himself up as well to be a force in progressive metal or metal music in general. What I appreciate the most about the writing team of Laivera/Alexander is their uncanny genius and ability to write towards the strengths of their guest vocalists.
They write towards the strengths of the guest musicians so much that it is as if the guest vocalists and instrumentalists are playing totally on point in their own element as if they are performing with their primary bands or outfits. That was something that really impressed me as I was listening to this. Elina Laivera and Michael Alexander tailored every passage and progression where the guests players could be distinguished. They appear to have a intricate knowledge of talent and just how to display it perfectly on the canvas that is The Jaguar Priest.
In the tracks Anthem For Freedom, Truth and Dreamstate the listener can clearly distinguish Mark Jansen’s legendary growls that he has used in After Forever, Epica and Maya. Even throughout Anthem For Freedom and the rest of the album Emanuele Casali [DGM] – Keyboards’ . The instrumental portion is stellar and matches the talent perfectly. On Bargain Of Lost Souls, Nils. K Rue of Pagans Mind really turns it loose. I almost feel for a brief second I am listening to PagansMind however I am not. That is another testament of the great songwriting that carefully went into consideration on this album.
On the title track The Jaguar Priest I have a appreciation of the writing democracy they band had allowing Charlie Dominci to write the lyrics . Without giving too much away Universal Mind ProjectThe Jaguar Priest is thematic concept. Every song represents a story that all 10 tracks tie into a common story. Universal Mind Project The Jaguar Priest is one of the finest and well written albums of artistic expression since I first heard Ayreon’s Into The Electric Castle in 1998 or even Explorers Club 1 & 2. It has the appeal of a rock/metal opera yet with so much more conviction. This album will be a album talked about for many decades to come. I declined to do a track by track analysis on his album because it needs to have the listener’s entire attention without preconceived scrutiny.
The hooks and melodies and harmonies are world class and some of the very best in the world. I hope they consider a follow up to The Jaguar Priest. I also believe The Jaguar Priest is part of the further posterity and life of progressive metal and metal in general.In a year where we have lost so many Icons of rock already, I believe Universal Mind Project’s The Jaguar Priest and all its participants are poised to carry the torches into the future left by those Icons. This album gets a 5/5 and is potential Album Of The Year 2016 material. Some of the best progressive metal I have heard in 30 years.
Ihsahn’s Arktis is a melodic dark playground for those who love to listen to progressive avant-garde ambient black metal. It is certainly one of those albums that comes along that totally changes every conventional notion on how we think about the musical elements I just mentioned. Arktis is a album that can not even be imprisoned within the walls of those respective genres due to its every changing nature between the individual tracks.
The more you listen the more noticeable his intentions are on Arktis. Ihsahn simply and deliberately refuses to be pigeonholed. His writing and intentions make Arktis a very interesting melodic journey for the listener. His songwriting and content has definitely matured since being a founder of one of black metal’s pioneers Emperor in the late 1980’s to early 1990’s. Much like his peers in Enslaved and even his once band mate in Tchort with Green Carnation, Ihsahn has incorporated ambient, avant-garde, progressive and even some fusion and jazz influences into his own modified form of extreme black metal. Arktis is a perfect example of all these influences coming together as we will now see when I break this down for you.
Disassembled starts with a thunderous bass section with a great old school hammond organ along with a heavy rhythm guitar. This is very soon followed up with a very rhythm guitar groove laden progression with a perfect black metal vocal. There is also some very melodic clean vocal sections that give the track a lot more depth than just a extreme vocal fest. Between the extreme black vocal sections and cleaner vocal sections it gives the track the appearance of a harmonic dialogue.
Mass Darkness has almost a djent backbone to it. There are definite intricate rhythmic trade offs in between the rhythm guitar and bass. On top of the greatly executed extreme vocals there are also so great clean backing vocals. The track is very up tempo within the rhythmic structure.
My Heart Is Of The North begins with a great drum intro followed by a beautiful hammond organ blended in with a great guitar passage. The extreme vocals are very melodic, The rhythm section of guitar/bass/drums melt well with the hammond organ. It is a Deep Purple style passage with a heavier metal sensibility. At the 2:57 mark the track takes a nice mellow melodic break with a cleaner vocal before exploding again at the 3:30 mark.
South Winds begins as a ambient intro with quiet whispering echo style vocals before taking a straight away direction towards a more avant – garde progression. The vocals and instrumental are subtle trading on and off. The rhythm section again appears as a more djent progression. Very tuned down and bleak yet smooth to the listener. About the 3:50 mark the instrumental portion takes on a light orchestral passage with the cleaner vocals dark ambient.
In The Vaul starts off as a straight up metal track. There is so great trade off melodies between the clean and extreme vocal. At times this track reminds me of early Opeth on Still Life with tracks like The Moor and Serenity Painted Death however in a more blackened metal ambient progression.
Until I Too Dissolve begins like a semi industrial track until the guitar kicks in and then takes it to another dimension. From there it is a straight away driving groove laden heavy metal track. There is some nice breaks before the clean vocals appear. This is one of the more melodic tracks both on the clean vocal and extreme black metal vocal parts. The clean vocals are like a light power/progressive vocal, strong and harmonic. The guitar solo is very intricate it its time measures and signatures making the progressions unpredictable.
Pressure is one of the more progressive metal tracks on the album. Both lyrically and instrumentally it deals with some of the darker material Ihsahn is more noted for. The instrumental portions are very intricate and the time signatures very dark yet ever changing. With all the progression changes the tracks still stays on point where you can follow it. The double blast beats of the drums are very black metal in their nature. Video to Pressure will be included at the end of this review.
Frail begins as a beautiful acoustic track. Suddenly it takes a weird path of various time signatures. The progressions sound very old school with the rhythmic section. The keyboards are a more rhythmic instrument than a stringed section instrument. The harmonies have a beautiful and dark nuance about them as well. The guitar solo bridges the first half to the second of the track perfectly.
Crooked Red Line is perhaps one of the most unusual tracks I ever heard on a extreme progressive black metal album of this nature. This track ventures more towards the jazz and fusion direction especially with the heavy appearance of a saxophone. It is progressive black metal fusion something that is barely heard in today’s extreme progressive metal scene. The saxophone takes the instrumental into another dimension and a welcomed one at that.
Celestial Violence has a heavy ambient atmospheric intro. Then the track explodes into a blackened progression with the extreme vocals. Soon it changes again in its time progression and the progressive passage takes on a cleaner vocal. This seems to be the main dynamic on the album where there is a extreme progression running side by side or playing off one another in a wicked time signature.
Til Tor Ulven (Soppelsolen) is basically a instrumentally avant-garde ambient track with the entire vocal portion being a spoken word section within another language. It is arranged perfectly as the final track allowing the listener to absorb what they just experienced.
Ihsahn really created a masterpiece on Arktis. He put on a clinic on how true progressive black metal should be written, recorded and produced. Arktis is a album that is one of those recordings where through word of mouth can introduce newer fans to Ihsahn and his body of work. I give Ihsahn’s Arktis a 4.5/5 .
When you are 15 years old with a wad of chore money you earned in your pocket and you have a love for music, a record store was like a kid in a candy store. This was at least the reality in my case. I remember earning $50.00 and was on my way to Los Angeles to the Sunset Strip where a very well know record store called Liquorice Pizza was located. This was 1985. My cousin was out to get some Judas Priest, Raven and Motorhead that he lacked in his collection.
As for myself I was out to get the new Iron Maiden Live After Death. As I was walking in the store I spotted a Metal Blade new releases cardboard stand up feature display. What I saw blew my mind it was like a black demon like with horns and bright blue eyes. This was Fates Warning’s Spectre Within. When I got it home on the turntable I was floored. I was a fan since. Waiting in anticipation for a future release, that day finally came in 1986 when Fates Warning released their follow up Awaken The Guardian.
I remember how utterly cool the album art work was. It looked like a portal into a new universe that the band had created with the music and lyrics in the songs. The arch was like a gateway into a multi universal dimension that the listener was about to embark on. Album art was extremely important in 1986 and sold 50% of the albums. Awaken The Guardian was no exception to this rule.
Part 1
Origins
Ever since Kansas debuted in the 1970’s, America had really never had a strong foothold in the world of progressive rock. Meanwhile on the metal side bands like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Diamonhead out of the United Kingdom were flourishing. Soon Germany would have its own answer for it with bands like Warlock, Helloween and Gamma Ray. This also not to mention that a Canadian powerhouse as RUSH was bridging both hard rock and progressive rock into a distinct sound since the early 1970’s .
In 1975 RUSH would create the first of many blueprint albums combining harder rock and progressive rock when it released Caress Of Steel and later 2112. Later the bands of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal like Iron Maiden, Saxon, Praying Mantis and Diamondhead would incorporate a more modern melodic sound. Around 1980 there was a tempest building in the Pacific Northwest of Seattle Washington in the form of Queensryche. It would create a perfect storm in the New England region of the United States and Fates Warning would be born.
Fates Warning would be one of the first metal and progressive metal bands on Metal Blade Records and would release Night On Brocken (1984) and Spectre Within (1985) before releasing Awaken The Guardian in (1986) .
Part 2
Awaken The Guardian
Despite some misconceptions, Fates Warning were no Iron Maiden knock off like a few branded them to be back in the day. They totally broke that myth with their previous releases Night On Brocken and Spectre Within. Fates Warning were even so much more than a metal band, they were one of America’s first real progressive metal band with a two guitar duo sound where as bands that would come after them came with a more keyboard ethereal polished sound. Fates Warning definitely did not play in the traditional metal 4/4 time signature. They really explored various time signatures and progressions.
The three major songwriters John Arch, Jim Matheos and Frank Aresti certainly have both a instrumental and lyrical cohesive vision on Awakening The Guardian. Musically Jim Matheos and Fran Aresti were doing for progressive metal what Robert Fripp and John Wetton were doing in King Crimson a decade earlier. On the rhythm section of Joe BiBiase – Bass and Steve Zimmerman– Drums they were doing what Chris Squire and Alan White were doing in Yes. Vocally John Arch held his own with the monsters of metal of the day like Bruce Dickinson, RonnieJames Dio and Rob Halford and John (Midnight) MacDonald of the fledgling Florida progressive/power metal band Crimson Glory. It was almost essential to have a towering voice in any form of metal back in that time.
Lyrically, this album follows a fantasy-based concept, which was one of the first of its kind. It almost seems mandatory to write a conceptual fantasy-based album in progressive and power metal today, and each band that does so tends to to revert back to the roots of this album given that it’s the pinnacle of this style. The lyrics, putting this bluntly, are some of the most beautiful I’ve ever read. The , lyrics were exceptional from how beautiful they were delivered it especially makes up for a wonderful story in the theater of the mind. The concept of this album occasionally varies but is ultimately about existence and life which the band would later develop further on in a more direct approach, aside from tackling the subject metaphorically. Like Dio era Rainbow and the classic progressive albums of the past ie. Yes’ Tales Of Topographic Oceans,Jethro Tull’s Thick As A Brick and Rush’s 2112 and Caress Of Steel, Fates Warning’s Awaken The Guardian forced the listener to use their own imaginations, create their own worlds of fantasy, dragons and lands of dark enchantment.
Awaken The Guardian would also mark John Arch’s last official album with Fates Warning. Although there were no videos for MTV which were practically necessary at the time, there really did not need to be. With all the great musical and lyrical content on Awaken The Guardian, it was enough to paint full motion pictures inside the theater of the mind of its fans and listeners. Awakening The Guardian had a wide influence. After its release there seemed to be an explosion of progressive rock bands such as Watchtower, Savatage, Crimson Glory, Dream Theater, Symphony X , Vanden Plas, etc … to name a few.
For fans of John Arch era Fates Warning who attend this years Prog Power event in Atlanta, Georgia are in for a treat. The Awakening The Guardian line up including John Arch are doing the entire Awaken The Guardian live. Happy 30th Anniversary to Fates Warning’s Awaken The Guardian.
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