A SENSE OF CHANGE

"A Sense of Change" is the 3rd full-length studio album by German progressive metal act Sieges Even. The album was released through Steamhammer Records/SPV in January 1991. A lineup change has taken place as new singer Jogi Kaiser has replaced lead vocalist Franz Herde who sang on both "Life Cycle (1988)" and "Steps" (1990). The usual suspects are guitarist Markus Steffen and the Holzwarth brothers Oliver and Alexander on bass and drums respectively.

The music on "A Sense of Change" is technical progressive metal. Sieges Even have developed their technical approach to progressive metal even further since the release of "Steps". New lead vocalist Jogi Kaiser is skilled and has a strong voice. The tracks have multible sections, very complex rythms and intricate and quite melodic playing. Especially the Holzwarth brothers rythm section is incredible. Very fusion influenced, extremely tight and innovative. Guitarist Markus Steffen is also quite the asset. His playing sometimes remind me of how Alex Lifeson from Rush sounds. Actually there are many references to Rush throughout the album but also "Perfect Symmetry (1989)" by Fates Warning must have been a big influence on Sieges Even. The music on "A Sense of Change" is much more complex than anything those two acts ever released though.

There are 8 tracks on the album. Most tracks are in the trademark complex and technically challenging Sieges Even style but the track "Change of Seasons" (hmm...does that ring a bell anyone?) is a bit different because it features strings. The tracks generally take quite a while to get to know, but repeated listens help. It´s not the most accessible music in the world and it´s probably not meant to be either. The vocal melodies are not that memorable to begin with and personally I find them a bit unremarkable if I have to be honest. It´s often that the technical playing gets in the way of power and while the music flow pretty well I could have wished for more focus on strong melodies and less focus on impossible to play time signature changes. But it´s probably the lack of power that gets me the most. It´s like these guys forgot that they were once a metal act. It´s all very sophisticated but I really miss some bite.

The production is professional but a bit cold and uninviting if you ask me.

I like music to captivate me and conjure up emotions in me. Anger, happiness, melancholy...etc. The music on "A Sense of Change" conjures up nothing like that in me. In fact it pretty much leaves me cold. It´s an excellent display of technical playing and in that field Sieges Even are way ahead of most other acts in the genre. And that´s actually saying a lot when you consider the general high quality of playing on most progressive metal albums. The music is somewhat soulless to my ears though and while I can enjoy the technical playing on the album from a musicians point of view, the lack of emotion and power becomes a big issue in the end. It´s not a bad album as such and there´s a chance others might feel emotionally touched, but as I said above "A Sense of Change" leaves me rather cold and I feel like I´m stretching when I`m giving this album a 3.5 star (70%) rating.