TOUCHSTONES

Subsignal is a marriage between two excellent, but below-the-radar prog metal bands, Sieges Even and Dreamscape. More precise, the marriage of their more melodic parts - the pop vocal of Arno Menses, the mood-creating guitar of Marcus Steffen and the strong keys of David Bertok, who, according to the band's website, share writing duties. The result is accesible metal for the middle aged, or AOR slash metal, with lyrics aiming for the poetic to the extent of the German writers translating abilities.

This is slightly heavier that the first album, Beautiful and Monstrous, which had a more spacy 80s feel. The main types of songs here are layered, energetic pop rock, mysterious and dramatic slow-burners, and more metal numbers with frequently alternating hard/clean guitar, which Steffen was fond of on the last Sieges Even album. I must add, that for all the band members' pedigrees, songwriting, while good and catchy, is not as detailed and up to the parent bands' standards. Some songs here are overreliant on the vocal melodies or simply overstay their welcome. Menses and Steffen miss the creative collaboration with the Holzwarth brothers, I think.