Symbiosis

Poverty's No Crime intrigued me based almost entirely on their name. Furthermore, I'm a fan of prog-metal, and the prospect of uncovering yet another wonderful band in that style had me excited. Sadly, that wasn't what I found.

"Symbiosis" is a remarkably lifeless album. Where good prog-metal makes the listener excited at the prospect of hearing more of the band in question, this album makes even listening to two tracks back-to-back a chore. Admittedly, this outing represents the band at the outset of its recording career, but it doesn't make me particularly desperate to check out the later recordings.

The major culprit in this lack of energy is Volker Walsemann, who does double duty on guitar and vocals (he would later take over keyboard duties as well). His vocal presence is roughly as interesting as a beige wall. The majority of his performance sounds as though he's half asleep, and the rest gives the distinct impression that he doesn't even want to be singing. His voice is almost entirely devoid of range, and his farcical wails and "mmmYEAH"s at various points just sound unintentionally humorous.

To be fair, I'm not holding him to some kind of superhuman standard. There are vocalists in this world without much of a presence, and then there are ones we can all recognise from a mile off. All I ask in general is that the vocalist give some indication that he actually wants to be a lead singer in a band with a record deal. I'm sure there are others who'd be happy enough to take over in lieu of him.

The musicians are all quite competent at what they're doing, but without a more energetic vocalist leading the way, they feel more "polite" than "talented". There are little solos here, drum fills there and riffs over to the side - all in precisely the right place, but nothing memorable at all.

To cap it off, the tracks here all tend towards the long side (averaging 6:26, and only one full-fledged track clocking in under 6 minutes), which amplifies the shortcomings I've already explained. "Progressive" needn't be a synonym for "long songs", as even Dream Theater are able to crank out 4-minute slabs of music here and there. Over the course of a 6-8 minute track, though, the band finds itself meandering terribly and - once again - Volker's lack of distinctive presence means that he can't stamp his authority on proceedings and draw them back to a more coherent performance.