DISCONNECTED

Having listened to this album for more than 8 spins through various kinds of mode: headphone, home stereo set and car CD changer that I've just done it while driving this morning, I'm now in a position to give some words of appreciation and views about this album. Overall, I think this album is on par excellent with the band's new album "FWX" that I have reviewed last week. . This album falls under Category B [my view] of prog music : it was hard for me to accept at first listen but it grew with number of spins and by (typically) spin number 8 (eight) it became my favorite. My view about this album has stabilized now and that's why this review is due. [Note: I only review albums, especially prog, where I have given a chance to listen the music in its entirety for a minimum of 8 spins to give you, THE readers, a fair opinion. I hope it works fine with you].

It kicks off with "Disconnected (Part 1)" in ambient style with Matheos' repeated howling guitar sound backed with a soft keyboard touch. It flows seamlessly to second track "One" with a simple guitar riffs that remind me to the opening riffs of Porcupine Tree's "Bornlivedie - Signify" tune. The tiny but powerful voice of Ray Alder enters the music backed with excellent riffs. My progmate, David, once mentioned that Mark Zonder has an acrobatic style in his drumming. Yes, I completely agree with him. I can taste it even from this opening track. Even though this track has a minimum variation on its tagline melody but it does not cause me get bored with the track. I think the band has put excellent sound ingredients that create different nuance for each musical passage.

"So" starts off with a soft and spacey keyboard solo before the riffs enter the music. Tempo-wise, this track is the same vein with previous one. Kevin Moore's keyboard plays have shown greater intensity to accompany guitar riffs and fills. This track has some tempo changes and some breaks into quieter passages. One of these quiet passage happens at halfway through the track where the bass line of Joey Vera and cymbals provide rhythm for the vocal line. Keyboard at the end of track plays background role and provides excellent musical nuance.

"Pieces Of Me"'s intro part begins with soft riffs followed by high register note voice line. Kevin Moore's keyboard sometimes add the track with effects like in typical Ozric Tentacles music. These effects have accentuated the music.

"Something From Nothing" is like an epic if we loot at the duration of 10 minutes plus. It's one of my favorites. It starts with bass line and some guitar effects that provide an excellent platform for voice to enter the music in mellow style. When the music enters, the band uses a sampling / sequencer with keyboard effects and amazing bass line. It returns back to mellow vocal. If vocal is ignored, this part reminds me to Ozric Tentacles music. Approaching middle of track the music turns into a faster tempo with, again, great guitar riffs played in unique style. It slowly grows to higher register with noisier music with some distorted sounds. This has made the music much more powerful and has created enjoyable listening journey.

"Still Remains" is another epic with longer duration (16:11). The opening part with some keyboard effects and guitar fills have in a way created an image of Ozric Tentacles performed in mellow manner. At approx min 2:40 the music turns into a faster tempo style with all players contribute and participate There are wonderful transitions performed with piano as the lead instrument player. I personally like the bass line that sometimes play a dominating role in quieter passage. The keyboard played with symphonic style at background. The guitar riffs are getting louder throughout the song accompanied with keyboard solo. Well, this track has a lot of catchy melodies with some tempo changes. At approx minute 10 the music turns quieter with excellent vocal line followed with a short electric guitar solo. Sometimes guitar sound reminds me to Camel's Andy Latimer's style. It's a wonderfully composed music with a very tight structure.

"Disconnected (Part 2)" brings the music back to original textures with the same repeated howling guitar with soft keyboard touch. This time the piano accentuates the music in a classical style augmented with distorted and distanced human voices. The nuance of this concluding track reminds me to Vangelis' "Chariots of Fire".

It's a highly recommended album in "another kind" of progressive metal vein. Another kind? Yeah, I'm sure about it as when the music flows throughout this album, the band has successfully projected other nuances of prog metal even though there are riffs (sometime repeated) that describe the prog met nature. This album has been wonderfully crafted considering many musical nuances produced through sound effects and/or styles. Overall, the album has a tight structure with clear head and tail, each track is well positioned in such a way that creates an ultimate mind satisfaction and listening pleasures. The songwriting is powerful, the delivery and musicianship are top notch. If I was not aware that the band have launched another follow-up album "FWX", I would have wondered whether the band can still maintain its quality as this album has earned. The fair rating is 4.5 out of 5. Keep on progging!! - GW, Indonesia ---

Notes : --- Based on my experience with progressive music, there are three categories of prog albums based on my listening experience. Category A is the album that blew my mind at first listen and it became my all-time favorite and I kept on playing the CD at my player on and on. Examples of this Cat A includes: Marillion (Fish era), Arena, IQ, Dream Theater, post Syd Barrett Pink Floyd, Yes "Fragile", Yes "Going For The One", Yes "Drama" etc. Category B is the album that was hard for me to accept at first listen but it grew with number of spins and by (typically) spin number 8 (eight) it became my favorite. Examples include: Gentle Giant (except "Civilian"), Yes "Tales from Topographic Ocean", Yes "Relayer", Pain of Salvation "Perfect Element Part 1" and "Remedy Lane", Fates Warning "Disconnected", "FWX", etc.. Category C is the album that did not attract me to have other spin due to weak composition (lack of structure or melody) or lack of originality of its music (too much influence of other bands). I don't want to give examples of this, actually, as it would create further controversy with other prog listeners.Albums under this category may move to Category B. Disagreement with my view is welcome as we are talking about prog, aren't we?. It's not prog at all if I do not welcome any disagreement or differing views.---