I really do not know why it has taken me seven months to write this review up. I remember receiving Jaded Star’s Memories From The Future back in March of this year. I was never able to put this album down for a few reasons. One thing that first grabbed my attention was the fact that former Visions Of Atlantis vocalist Maxi Nil found her a new band and home. She was coming this time with a more progressive power metal backbone with former Iced Earth drummer RaphaelSaini. The band would be rounded out with Greek guitar sensation and Wardrum guitarist Kosta Vreto and Open Paradises’ own Babis Nikou on bass.
Jaded Star’s Memories From The Future carries some very traditional power progressive elements and some not so power progressive elements. While coming from diverse backgrounds, Maxi Nil and Raphael Saini have brought collective and conventional power metal elements with more catchy elements and progressions that are sure to hook the listener. Memories From The Future is one of more stronger debuts of 2015.
The Mask starts with a thunderous rhythm section with heavy blast beats and heavy bottom bass. It then proceeds towards a more harmony based composition with guitar and keyboard melodies. About the :52 markMaxi Nil comes in this time with a more aggressive power metal vocal than what some are used to with her from VOS days. The Mask serves as a great first track in the arrangement to entice even the most discriminating of audio pallets.
Wake Up begins with some nice ultra keyboard work before exploding into a full on melodic assault. Maxi Nil has some great overdubs for background vocals. They have a nice catchy echoing effect. Kosta Vreto is all over the fret board on this track. Between the vocal and Kosta’s guitar work and Babis on keyboards the track is a solid one.
Keep On Fighting has a beautiful piano intro before the heavier progressions take the track in another direction. :43 mark there is a nice fade out and down with the instrumental and Maxi’s vocal takes a more isolation to personalize the track more. Keep on Fighting takes on a heavy AOR progression at various time throughout the track. At the 3:45 mark the band continue to take a more vintage metal approach with a great guitar solo.
Stars begins with some good keyboard work before the senses are assaulted with a power progression. Stars is one of the more emotional tracks on the album. There are some good backing vocal points as well on this one. It is also a very commercially friendly track for radio that still considers 3:00 songs art. That however does not take from the great work on Stars.
Into The End Of Time starts with a semi electric guitar before the power progression picks up. Into The End Of Time starts to see the band experiment with different keys and registers. The band seems to be opening up a little more on this one. Once again their is also a lot of experimentation in the vocal department. They also have more time signatures yet without straying too much from their point. Healing The Inner Child starts off with a great drum solo passage before the band begins to experiment once again with electronica and Darkwave keyboard styles. The vocals are more of a power progression yet still maintain some harmony in and out with the lead to backing overdubs. This track has very light Gothic structures within in it. The rhythm section is taking some chances here as well.
You’ll See begins much like a old school power ballad with modern power metal elements. There are some great heavy rhythmic time signatures and vocal exchanges going in and out. The solo on this one really takes the track to another level.
In Memory begins with a great atmospheric semi electric semi acoustic guitar with a great isolation of vocal to make the track a more intimate experience to the listener. The lyrical content is very personal as well. This is the definite ballad on the album. This track will serve the band well during live sets to give other members a rest in middle of set. I do have some speculation whether the band will employ a back up choral section with all the rich backing vocals on this one.
Racing In Sao Paulo starts out with a good solid rhythmic guitar intro. The title is probably obvious since Raphael Saini is from Brazil. However it does not take away that note for note this track is just as strong as any other on the album. It has a nice eletric piano in the background accenting the various time signtures and progressions. At the 3:40 mark this track takes some serious heavy rhythmic directions.
Innocence ends the album in a very mellow yet gentle rhythmic way. It is focused definitely around a charging signature for sure. This is matched by a good solid keyboard accent and some great backing vocal overdubs.
Make no mistake Jaded Star are not a quote “Supergroup“. They did establish their own catchy groove and sound on this one. They do have a identity as to not bring a entire sound from the perspective bands they come or came from. This band will be talked about not only in the ‘female fronted metal’ circuits but the general metal population. If this band does hold together the future can be bright for them. I give this 4/5 for the different experimentation they employed on the album.
Back in 2013 I had a informal introduction to The Murder Of My Sweet when I received a copy of their beautiful front woman’s Angelica Rylin’s solo album Thrive. Although at the time I had not heard The Murder Of My Sweet yet I could already notice the power in Angelica Rylin’s voice. It was one of the most powerfully seductive and clear vocals I ever heard male or female. AngelicaRylin simply knows how to tell a story with her vocal prowess. This is very much confirmed indeed with The Murder Of My Sweet’s 2015 release Beth Out Of Hell.
Now I know most people will be critical of the title Beth Out Of Hell. I know many will take it as a pun off Meatloaf’s Bat Out Of Hell trilogy, however this is very far from being the case. The MurderOf My Sweet’sBeth Out Of Hell is a concept story about the worlds end through apocalypse and a unlikely alliance and romance beginning in the midst of the hell and chaos that has been unleashed on earth. While on the surface it sounds like another concept album, I beg to differ.
Beth Out Of Hell is a very living and breathing story. The characters come right out in a tasteful distinct manner instead of the characters being force fed like on other concept albums. Mostly people write soundtracks based on the plot of a film or movie. Beth Out Of Hell is a melodic film or movie come to life on the screen inside the theater of the of the mind of the listener through song.
Although Beth Out Of Hell carries the ‘cinematic metal’ tag, it is so much more. It contains heavy elements of symphonic metal, hard rock, AOR, gothic metal, etc. While some so-called ‘concept’ albums are purposefully written, recorded and engineered to break between tracks, Beth Out Of Hell has some very tight and proper spoken word segway’s of continuity between tracks. It may be multi tracked with thirteen tracks however the listener can not tell with the brilliant engineering and mastering of the concept.
Hell On Earth is basically part instrumental part narrative that introduces the listener to the project before them. Hell On Earth sets up a nice dramatic backbone for the story.
The Awakening has some seriously powerfully symphonic harmonies as if a orchestra were scoring a film. The boys choir places a melodic accent of brief innocence before the track takes off. The keyboards are tracked in a way as not to remove anything from the vocal narrative. The Awakening has the standard verse, bridge, chorus yet in a very orchestral matter. At the 4:12 , markAngelica Rylin’s vocals are part harmony part spoken word.
World Of Ashes starts out with a spoken word narrative that keeps building upon the original conceptual premise. The drums and bass rhythm section really carry the track giving it a brooding audio appearance and heavy progression. There is some tight male choral parts in the backing vocal.
Always A Fugitive once again shows Angelica Rylin going in and out of a semi spoken word semi melodic vocal. This really makes it easier for the listener who is wanting to be more at home with the lyrical content and story than the instrumental. This track continues to build on the dramatic dynamic of Beth Out Of Hell.
Bitter Love introduces us to the male character for the first time in the concept. It opens with both a male spoken word and melodically sung passage. Bitter Love has a semi AOR vocal harmony that builds upon the symphonic aspect of the narrative. This is more a ballad on the album.
Still opens up with the female character in a dream like state and the female character requesting his attention. Still is a straight away symphonic gothic hard rock track. It contains a strong deep rhythm section on top of choral elements. Still is laced with progressive elements throughout the track. Still is the first track we see a actual guitar solo.
The Humble Servant starts off with a brief spoken word passage before exploding into a symphonic progressive time signature. The signature has over the top rhythm sections in harmony with over the top keyboard parts. This track continues the dramatic flair the band have apparently sought out to convey to the listener. At about the 3:00 mark the guitar solo manipulates the listening experience and gives the listener the appearance it too is talking.
Requiem For A Ghost opens up with a nice keyboard atmosphere giving the track a sound like a instrumental love letter. The male vocal has really become a second character. Requiem For A Ghost is like a gothic AOR track in the beginning before exploding in the more modern symphonic signature. There are various instrumental signatures within the track that serve as one hook to another as to not allow the listener to become complacent and bored. Requiem For A Ghost reminds me of many of Tobia’s Sammets, Avantasia tracks containing a lot of power metal elements aswell.
Euthanasia continues with the spoken word element from the start. It soon is followed by a heavy melodic AOR metal vibe. Angelica’s vocal has more and more conviction as the story goes forward. Lyrically Euthanasia is a crossroads track within the storied narrative. The keyboard towards the end is very symphonic in nature.
Tide After Tide opens up with a instrumental ghostly effect. The male character is starting to question things by now. The keyboard programming gives the listener the appearance that the male character is somewhere along a body of water whether ocean or lake. Lyrically you can hear a lot of personal reflection happening within the main male and female characters.
Poets By Default has the male narrative giving Beth a stern warning and her taking instruction. Poets By Default both instrumentally and lyrically is a strong call to action for the main character of Beth. At the 2:50 mark there is a nice easy break and Angelica’s voice takes a sultry and passionate departure.
Heavenly Succumb starts out with a powerful explosion of symphonic bliss. That is soon accented by a power vocal. This contains a lot of heavy rhythmic distortion in the instrumental. The guitar has a very intricate exchange between a lead to rhythm instrumental.
Means To An End opens up with a plural spoken word vocal narrative. This is the final track of BethOut Of Hell and allows the listener to continue the story in their minds or to have closure as well. There is a wonderful interchange between the lead vocal and the mini choir delivery by the male backing vocal. The way Means To An End ends Beth Out Of Hell also allows the audience to speculate whether this will be a ongoing story or perhaps a sequel to Beth Out Of Hell.
Beth Out Of Hell impressed me. This is a very easy concept to follow. The band, if they choose to do so, can put this in its entirety as a full concept on the live stage while maintaining the original integrity the concept had in the recording studio. In a year dominated with many concept albums both in the progressive and symphonic spectrum, Beth Out Of Hell has found its own niche without compromising their sound. I give this a 4/5 for its total original perspective.
From the man, who brought you the acclaimed 2012 Triology, ” THE TRIP AROUND THE SUN, ” which defined the TRUE ASTROLOGY OF THE AGES, comes a NEW RELEASE, that will PENETRATE INTO THE VORTEX, of the UNIVERSE.
” INFINITY, ” is the name, and for JAY TAUSIG, this was no game.
Here’s his explanation, about this project:
“ There are times I expect that I have indeed gone too far. This definitely is one of those times. “
“ Musically speaking that is. “
“ A new release I have been working on is one composition, running about 47 minutes. Working title “INFINITY, “ or perhaps, ‘ Going Off The Deep End Into An Endless Self Indulgent Series Of Solo’s in Bizarre Modes While The Dog Spins in Endless Circles. ‘ “
“ But really, it’s some of my best guitar work to date? “
“ For no other reason perhaps as a result of the 150 or so live performance I’ve done over the last two or 3 years? “
“ Can’t hurt. “
“ And it’s ultimately the reason for which this release exists. “
“ And I think It needs to be said that it wasHUGELYINSPIREDbyBILL NELSON,whose solo work has beenILLUMINATINGand listening to, much of it, I realized it was Perfectly Fine to use Drum Machines. So this is the first thing I’ve done in aLONG TIME, without playing drum kit at all. “
“ Making music that goes on and on like that, can sometimes be very difficult to keep interesting, while giving it a sense of going somewhere or evolving. “
“WELL, THIS ONE CAME OUT WELL, I THINK?! “
“ In between working on a new Helios Creed album, a soundtrack, an EP, another vast project with Helios and Nik Turner I managed to pull this one out of thin air. “
“ It started with 47 minutes of “The Box” ( Which is modular little bits suitcase synth I built a little while back to experiment with ‘ Additive Synthesis. ‘ Oscillators literally crashing into each other to create very distinct possibilities. “
“ Then comes the Korg Analog Drum machine, which most definitely evolves Very Well over time, and it gives this recording just the rhythmic flair I was looking for, without using any ‘ Pre Sampled ‘ beats. “
“ The combination of these two elements is then solidified with the, once again, Fender precision bass. Nuff said about that. “
“ All of these things so far were recorded as one complete performance. “
“ So was the next element, the Fender Stratocaster, with Whammy Bar, gets a real workout and I kept 90 percent of the performance in tact. “
“ After the madness of doing a 47 minute guitar solo, mellotrons, glissando guitar, synths and rhythm guitars were then placed accordingly to round out the Ever Important: Arrangement. “
It is 1987 and I had just bought a little known album called The Final Countdown by Europe. It was the song of Cherokee that MTV had in heavy rotation at the time that finally made me breakdown and purchase the album. I thought to myself here is another hard rock GLAM Band they are trying to commercialize especially of the catchy hooks in the title track The Final Countdown. That album had the hallmark formula at the time of several rocker tracks, a anthem track and two ballads. You could say it was the cookie cutter formula for success of its time.
This was at the time when everyone was looking towards the Sunset Strip in Hollywood California for the ‘next big band’. However on the contrary this particular band came from Sweden which gave it a little heavier sound of the time when the Poison’s , Warrant’s, Motley Crues, and Bon Jovi’s were always in demand in heavy rotation on MTV and radio stations globally. Soon the ‘Grunge Infestation’ out of Seattle would hit around 1990-1991 and bands like Europe in the Western Hemisphere were totally irrelevant from the general market formula record labels were going with and Europe were relegated to the Eastern Hemisphere of continental Europe, Asia, and Australia.
Fast forward to 2015 and the GLAM metal tag has been replaced with ‘Hair Metal’ and those bands seem like relics that only play the nostalgia circuits of casinos or state fairs. I have moved on in my taste in music as well with heavier more progressive oriented metal and rock. A friend of mine kept pestering the hell out of me for a while to listen to the new Europe War of Kings album. In all honesty I was hesitant at first. After a full listen I was taken back and astonished by what I heard.
This was a much darker, heavier, more serious band than I had experienced a few decades before in my youth. Europe in sound and even appearance has made every effort to distance themselves from that Glam Metal/Hair Metal stigma. You can say they grew up and matured where most of their contemporaries have yet to do. What has really impressed me about the album is the way it pays homage to the pioneering sounds of Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Cream and elements of LedZeppelin. Lush candy coated glossy keyboard’s have now been replaced with heavier more bottom sounding hammond organ sounds. The finger tapping scale progressions on guitar are more rhythm and tritone based progressions.
War Of Kings starts out with a Deep Purple’s Mandrake Root meets Black Sabbaths Iron Man with modern melodic sensibility. Joey Tempest sounds better now than he did say in the 1980’s. Whereas some of his peers range has subsided over time Joey Tempest seems to have gotten stronger. Even John Norum’s guitar playing has gotten more bottom serving even in the solo’s. MicMichaeli has even modified his keyboard sound to mirror Jon Lord than the high glossed polished progression as he used in the 1980’s.
Hole In My Pocket opens up with a sick raunchy progression. This progression reminds me very much of Highway Star meets Space Truckin‘. There are appropriate breaks and the track continue rolling along. Hole In My Pocket would have appeal to fans of early 1970’s straight away power rock.
Second Day opens up much like Child Of Time where there is a heavy hammond organ progression and isolated vocal in harmony. About the :30 mark the track takes a more conventional hard driving rock signature. Second Day is one of the more progressive based track on War Of Kings.
Praise You explodes with almost a proto – doom progression before settling down with a deep bottom heavy bass work of John Levén in dark harmony with Ian Haugland – Drums. Lyrically many people can see a little of themselves within the track. Praise You even has elements of stoner metal/rock.
Nothin’ To Ya has a sweet little drum roll towards the beginning. This track opens very much like Ronnie James Dio era Black Sabbath with the song ‘I’ . It takes on heavy rhythmic guitar passages with a ghostly type keyboard to give accent.
California 405 has more of a Bad Company Ready For Love meets Rainbow Stone Cold progression. This track definitely takes on more of early West Coast AOR with power hammond organ replacing a cleaner more polished keyboard. The guitar give the listener the appearance it is pumped through a bass amp more than a Marshall stack.
Days Of Rock N Roll opens with a rolling guitar with a hammond organ in harmony with the tight rhythmic progressions. This is one of the more up tempo tracks on the album. Europe has even sprinkled old 1960’s to 1970’s Scorpions into Days Of Rock N Roll. Lyrically it talks about nostalgia.
Children Of The Mind shows the band with a more old school doom sludge progression. Children OfThe Mind reminds me a lot of 1980’s era Trouble. The rhythymic progressions are really tight by now and you begin to notice the bands metomorphosis into a vintage sound with very modern sensibilities.
Rainbow Bridge starts with a more mellotron based keyboard progression with a slow heavy rhythm section. It is as if the vocal is echoing the keyboard. The drum fills are totally built around the bottom bass drum. The track plays to this progression throughout its duration.
Angels (With Broken Hearts) is definitely Lazy meets Child Of Time. This is a very heavy blues oriented progression. The blues I speak of is more New Orleans meets Memphis blues almost getting into a mild jazz fusion signature. This track is full of emotion and stalks the mind of the listener to a more mellow feel. If their were a ballad on War Of Kings this track would be the closest. This is more a Deep Purple Mark Three line up with Coverdale/Hughes blues type mirrors Mistreated.
Light Me Up & Vasastan are basically tracks that give a overview of the previous tracks in the arrangement. Vasastan is part instrumental part verse run from the title track War Of Kings.
Some critics will say that a leopard can not change its spots or snake shed all its skin to manage with the changes of life. Well I believe Europe have certainly made a statement album shattering the old Glam/Hair Metal stigma they were lumped into. Both in appearance and in sound this is the strongest Europe album to date. It will certainly win over a older guard that wanted to dismiss them at the same time attracting a newer crowd getting into the older more vintage sound. I give both band and album a 4/5 for the courage to go against the typical expectation placed on them.
Based on a novel, written by the Medieval Author, GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO, ” THE DECAMERON, ” consist of a COLLECTION of 100 NOVELLAS, as told by three young women and two young men, who’ve ESCAPED THE BLACK DEATH, when they’ve found shelter, in a secluded villa, outside of Florance, Italy.
Stories of EROTIC & TRAGIC LOVE, WIT, PRACTICAL JOKES, to LIFE’S LESSONS, were told in this CLASSIC, however, it took a PROG ROCK MASTER, such as MARCO BERNARD, who BROUGHT THOSE STORIES TO LIFE, when 34 Bands have collaborated on this project, back in 2011 on ” DECAMERON – Ten Days in 100 Novellas ” and ” DECAMERON – Ten Days in 100 Novellas PT 2 ” back in 2014, including THE SAMURAI OF PROG, UNITOPIA, STEVE UNRUH, NEXUS, ROBERT WEBB, and many more…..
BE AWARE, for ” DECAMERON 3 ” IS IN THE WORKS!!!!!!
And now, an UPDATE from MARK TRUEACK:
Hi All,
” Finally worked on the final lead vocals for ‘ MERCENARIES, ‘ which is part of the DECAMERON 3 PROJECT. Matt is a true professional, who made me work really hard to get the best sound out of me. “
” I’m very pleased with the results. As we speak, Steve Unruh and I are adding some nice vocal and harmony arrangements presently in the United States. ”
From ” DECAMERON 2, ” here’s a RARE & EPIC song by UNITOPIA, that will ENTRANCE YOU with one of the tales of intrigue, called, ” DAY 6 NINTH TALE, ” as displayed on this YOUTUBE LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFzmnn5etaI
Let’s face it, 2015 has most definitely been a banner year in progressive rock and metal since the years of the early 2000’s . We have seen many new faces rise like Australia’s Arcane, Poland’s Abstrakt and Russia’s Emerald Mind. We have seen some of the familiar return as well, SymphonyX, Riverside, and even a stage version to Ayreon’s 2004 project of The Human Equation with the Theater Equation.
Now comes a band out of the great white north of Manitoba Canada called Grand Master. They have risen with a brilliant concept album titled Saligia. After multiple listens of this fine piece of musicianship I can now say the old guard with the Dream Theater’s, SymphonyX’s, Vanden Plas’ and Threshold’s are all on notice. Grand Master will be spoken about in the same breath and the bands I just mentioned. I would even go out on a limb and on record to say that the bands I just mentioned should seriously consider Grand Master as a future opening act.
I am normally not this bold, however Saligia is a very different concept album. It is a story of nine tracks consisting of track one Capital Vices such as tracks 2.Pride, 3.Greed, 4.Lust, 5. Envy, 6. Gluttony, 7.Wrath and 8.Sloth. And there track 9. Holy Virtues to offset the Vices in the story. They have taken the listener in this concept and placed them in a reality of reflection on life, what is there and what can be. Now the breakdown of the masterpiece that is Grand Master’s Saligia.
Capital Vices opens with a deep heavy and dark intro progression for the first 1:16. Then it takes another progression on with a crunchy distortion of guitar. At the 1:52 mark it explodes and the band are on all cylinders. Both the stringed section of guitar and keyboard work in harmony with the deep rhythm progressions. The keyboard appears to go into realms of neo progression much like Dream Theater’s Images and Words and Awake albums. Capital Vices is the only instrumental on the album. Towards the 2:20 mark the track takes on a regression with the right while hooking you with another progression with the left. The track flows quite fluid into track 2. Pride.
Pride starts off with a thunderous progression with the drums and bass before going into a more verse progression with vocals at the 1:40 mark. The vocals remind me of another Canadian outfit Annihlator. Pride consists of several thunderous hooks and progressions. The band nicely fits a multitude of passages in its 4:09 entirety. Then the album takes a total riff progression leading and flowing into track 3.Greed.
Greed stays on point with some serious rhythmic riff work on the guitar by Shane Barron. Greed at its core takes on a thrash metal style quality in progression. The vocals often remind me of early Kronos of Venom meets DRI’s Spike Cassidy or even Overkill’s Bobby Blitz before balancing out to a more traditional progressive metal vocal. There is a rare punk sensibility about Greed. Nice tight blast beats with serious intricate chord progressions. About the 2:48 mark the vocals take the more deathy black metal style growls and screams. The track flows fluidity into Lust.
Lust begins with a nice acoustical passage that is ethereal in nature. The bass and drum rhythm sections come in harmony quite nice with the stringed section. The band displays two dimensions of their talent while bringing it together in a spot on well engineered progression. At the 2:25 mark a nice violin perfectly compliments the stringed section. At the 3:45 mark the track takes a very odd yet tasteful psychedelic vibe. There are layers upon layers of keyboard effects. It gives the listener the appearance there are two seperate tracks into one single composition. Towards the 6:40 mark to end of the track the composition takes on a semi acoustical semi electric atmosphere. Once again the band has a deathy vocal in harmony with the lead.
Envy opens up with almost a sheer Arabic scale vibe meets a primal east African style percussion giving the album a unpredictable quality. At the 1:45 mark the keyboards come in almost in a minimalist krautrock style before balancing out to a more progressive exchange of various time signatures and hooks. Envy is also sprinkled with subtle yet noticeable Djent math post rock signatures at various times after the 4:00 mark. About the 4:39 mark there is a guitar and keyboard exchange before at the 5:30 mark where Envy takes a more jazz to blues style progression before going to the traditional prog metal signatures.
Gluttony begins once again with a heavy bottom progression in the rhythm section. There is a progression giving the listener a appearance of being stalked. At the 1:25 mark the vocal takes a very deep board line vibe that reminds me of the late Pete Steele of Type O Negative. Gluttony takes on a very heavy horror style and even incorporates some nice spoken word tracks that give the listener a more vintage horror film score effect.
Wrath opens up with some strange special effect as if someone enter a room lurking for trouble. Wrath takes on a progression that incorporates a 1990’s alternative sound. It is met with a nicely engineered guitar echo before exploding at the 2:00 mark into a more traditional progression instrumentally with a offset spoken vocal. Wrath is a reminder that Grand Master refuse to be pigeonholed into one single time signature, progression or sub genre. Wrath has its tentacles in the punk and alternative world while carrying the traditional progressive metal signatures. Wrath serves up a great dynamic of various experimental properties not traditionally heard in the progressive metal and rock community.
Sloth serves as a transitional track before the other half of Siligia takes the listener on a 21:44 journey of Holy Virtues. Sloth has a heavy ballad style while maintaining a more traditional old school prog rock progression.
Holy Virtues opens with a slow but easy progression bringing the listener in gently and delicate. The orchestration is a true progressive one with a traditional longer progressive rock instrumental orchestral. Holy Virtues brings the listener in in such fashion where they can paint a vivid film in the theater of the mind. The opening instrumentation even has some heavily dispersed folk elements before the vocal comes in at the 4:18 mark. This track takes on elements that remind me of classic rock in the vein of The Eagles and Steve Miller Band meets Yes or Genesis. This is supported with the rolling acoustical underbelly. At the 7:35 mark the rhythm section of the drums and bass are almost a jazz fusion progression that keeps the listeners interest intrigued. At the 8:42 mark the keyboard once again takes on a neo progressive element on top a good guitar solo. About the 9:50 mark Holy Virtues takes on almost a symphony style orchestration with semi classical progressions and signatures before balancing towards the traditional signatures. The track goes in and out of the heavy progressive hallmarks satisfying the progressive purists while attracting a newer listener base. From the 13:30 mark towards the end the track takes on a easy listening experience all the while as to not insult the prog purist intelligence. A gentle balance of various progressions in other words.
Much like previous progressive concept albums like Pink Floyd’s Darkside of The Moon to the Dream Theater’s Metropolis 2: Scenes From A Memory to the Pain Of Salvation’s BE and PerfectElement Part 1. Grand Master’s Saligia maintains the traditional progressive rock/metal integrity while appealing to a much younger audience through the harder more death and metalcore elements. I give Saligia a 4.25/5 for great integrity while appealing to various musical demographics and pallets.
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