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Album reviews:
Here you'll find all album reviews sorted on publish date, descending. Latest published items are on top.
Note: We don't give a mark to: MCDs, DEMOs, Compilations and Live albums.
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| Page: Show all reviews |
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 | 01. Black roses
02. No break space
03. Ageless day
|  | The Dutch five-piece band Picture Of The Moon are based in Enschede, the town in the eastern part of the country that was home to progressive deathmetallers Pestilence, technothrashers Sacrosanct and, of course, the great Vandenberg. Contemporary progressive metal is Picture Of The Moon’s style. Their second EP Ageless day sports a remarkable sound, loaded with lower tones and cooked up by Joost van den Broek, keyboard player for Ayreon, Sun Caged, Sphere Of Souls and other projects of Dutch prog prominence. Being familiar with their earlier demo Waxing crescent (2004), the three songs on this mini-mini-album are a step up for the band; tighter arrangements have benefitted the compositions. Whoever can spot the Riverside-elements mentioned in the label’s press info is a keen listener indeed (the comparison eludes this reviewer). But, agreed, there is some later-period Threshold in there. The grunt vocal popping up every now and then somewhat spoils the fun, but as they say, it’s all a matter of taste.
No break space is a heavy midtempo number that, like the other two tracks, has a modern feel to it. Keyboards are very present, with some nice, short solo spots. Although the overall playing is sound (with Rudolf Saathof’s powerdrumming standing out), the songs themselves lack a few hooklines and more distinct vocal melodies to tell them apart. The chorus in the title track is repeated a bit too often.
Since this is an EP, there’s no telling if a full-length album would capture the listener’s attention. There are talented musicians at work here, only the songwriting ability has to grow. It’s a pity, really, that the band didn’t wait until two or three more songs were ready to be recorded. At least one different sounding track would have been welcome.
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Rating: - /100 | |
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