A Brand New Day

There is a broad definition for what “progressive” music stands for. Some people understand it as incredibly technical with time signature changes and a lot of focus on solos and instrumental section, to the verge of turning musicianship into “wankery” as it is often critizised as. Then there’s the layman’s definition, which includes any band that changes from clean vocals to growling or screaming, or changes from a distorted guitar to a clean acoustic sound.

Then there are bands like Akashic. These bands are critizised for kidnapping the umbrella term “progressive metal” and watering it down to a bastardized version. They are progressive in the sense that the songs progress in a certain path and use some key elements of traditional prog to better fit the scene, while not actually estabilishing a unique sound or any musical creativity.

What you must understand about Akashic’s album “A Brand New Day” is that it is fairly simple pop-prog, and that they’re considered metal probably only because their use of power chords. The vocals are the focus, and most songs revolve entirely around the pre-chorus and chorus. This fact also ensures that even on your first listen to the album, the last half of the songs will sound familiar since they are structured the same way as the previous songs.

However, if you are willing to accept this brand of prog instead of dismissing it as a lesser form of music, there are quite a few good points to the album as well. While the amount of guitar solos are somewhat short, few and far between, they are really good in the context of the song, especially in “Give Me Shelter.” The same can be said about the use of keyboards. More often than not it becomes a filler instrument, but when there is a point to it and it gets to lead like in the beginning of “Vaudeville” and “Revealed Secrets”, it’s quite good.

“A Brand New Day” is a very consistent album, which can also mean that it lacks variety. Solid gold to some, solid crap to others. Personally I think it is an average album with a few better songs and some good moments here and there, enjoyable but not excellent.