Zero Hour

Said tower, or rather towers, being the band’s sophomore “Towers of Avarice” which got surrounded by the first instalment, the self-titled released two years prior… and materialized two years later as well, only under a different title… and with a slight facelift, the latter comprising “Rebirth”, a dramatic variegated shredder; and “A Passage”, a nice idyllic lead-driven instrumental.

In other words, the review here also applies to the "Metamorphosis" effort, the band establishing themselves on the very forefront, or at least quite near it, of the progressive metal movement with their very first instalment, the Tipton brothers looking at the darker more aggressive side of the genre, the opening “Eyes of Denial“ recalling another introduction, “What Tomorrow Knows” from Nevermore’s self-titled, with its steam-rolling main motif, the delivery here more virtuoso-prone and overall more complex than the one of the Jim Sheppard/Warrel Dane (R.I.P.)-led team. The big ambition gets more evocatively displayed with two sizeable compositions, the labyrinthine atmospheric masterpiece “The System Remains“, a full-on awe-inspiring riff-fest with twisted angular configurations dancing around Shrapnel-like lead explosions and serene balladic breaks; and “Voice of Reason”, an epic operatic offering which again gets a more brutal, also more intricate riff-upgrade but this is a more orthodox interpretation of the prog-metal canons with an overlong balladic exit.

This lyrical digression gets swept aside by the 5-part symphony “Metamorphosis”; yes, the title-track, the band having decided to honour it by naming the album after it the second time around… and for a good reason as this is a mazey emotional journey through the progressive metal kaleidoscope, part one (“Descent”) a dense staccato riff marvel, the most exemplary presentation of the guys’ still-forming at the time style; the hard-edged show alleviated by part two (“Awaken”) which is largely spent in meditative balladic/semi-balladic territories. Both heretofore exhibited sides get bonded on part three, that one logically titled “Union”, a relatively linear number if we exclude Jasun Tipton’s mesmerizing lead guitar work. Part four (“Solace”) is a one-min noise, nothing substantial music-wise; the conclusion, again logically titled “Ascent”, is a 2-min long etude which is strictly on the light-hearted side, keeping the metallic expletives to a minimum, this laid-back trick working to the musicians’ advantage as exacerbating the setting as a farewell gesture wouldn’t have made much sense from a structural point-of-view.

This is a very good testing-of-the-soil endeavour, the band feeling their way around, already sounding pretty proficient but without insistently nailing their staple approach yet. There are also shades of Symphony X, Fates Warning, Dream Theater, Queensryche, this lofty conglomerate topped by Erik Rosvold’s outstanding emotional vocal performance, the man soaring above the complex musical tapestry with gusto and authority, sometimes recalling Roy Khan (Conception, Kamelot), sometimes Nils K. Rue (Pagan’s Mind), sometimes James La Brie (Dream Theater) when he starts hitting the higher octaves. The keyboard presence is by all means worth mentioning as well, giving the album both a symphonic and a lyrical dimension, one that surely works on an influences-compilation work of the kind… but one that simply had no place later on the guys’ subsequent instalments, when the delivery became both more elaborate and more aggressive. There’s also this nostalgic aura attached to the album, for the olden days when the guys could still pass for swiftly-advancing apprentices, with still room left for trials and errors, and venerable nods at luminaries; deliberately choosing to reside in this position for a bit, before claiming their master status later in a most assured, most assertive way with a string of stellar slabs.

The metamorphic title selected for the remastered version also makes sense if considering the demo stage, solely reflected in a 4-tracker released in 1994, when the style was dreamy more uplifting music with bold echoes of early Queensryche. Another self-title wasn’t that relevant provided that not a single song from the ones on the demo found a place on the debut. Besides, the transformation towards a more potent, more individualistic entity is quite clear, both as a precursor and a successor to the musical feats served on the “Towers…”… a siege that provided both security and an urge for bigger further-reaching flights of the creative spirit.