NO WAY BUT FORWARDS

Carving Colours are a new progressive metal band from Spain and "No Way but Forwards" is their debut work and comes with an impressive cover. From the 45mins of this album, it is clear that CC invest heavily on the metal, rather than the prog, side of their music and that makes this album a rather awkward listening experience to the prog fan.

Structurally and production-wise the album is solid to the core, with twin-guitar arrangements (ala Maiden) and DT-esque heavy riffing with plenty of reverb, chop-grunging and a mix of melodic and brutal vocals. Add to this a slight djent tilt, the melodic phrasing influenced by In Flames and the thrashy blast beats by Nevermore and you get close enough to the recipe. Unfortunately, the overall package, even if it has been carefully executed and is technically adequate, prefers the regression to progression and presents an amalgam of cliche riffing of the progressive metal of the 90s (Vigilance came in mind here) and Maiden-esque nu-metal, further weakened by the cliche use of brutal vocals. The light at the end of the tunnel comes with the 15min title track which is a tad away from the above, incorporating more diverse influences in the vein of Pain of Salvation and Opeth.

Judging from this debut, there is a long way to go for CC to escape the norm but their skills and the closing track give some hope. For fans of a heavy version of Dream Theater, Nevermore, In Flames, Opeth and even atmospheric metal, their album is available for free download on their bandcamp page - check them out.

2.5 stars