THE DIVINE WINGS OF TRAGEDY

Well, I found these guys mainly through Dream Theater, to whom they sound pretty similar. On paper this should be good, but it just falls short. It's not that the musicianship is bad, on the contrary. Allen has an incredibly strong and metal voice, and Romeo is probably as technically proficient as Petrucci. But I can't help but think their compositional skills aren't alarmingly good. I would say the album is very consistent, but nothing really jumps out at me besides the title track. Everything just sounds the same, and the terrible production (especially for the drums and keyboards) doesn't help matters either.

The highlights would probably be 'Of Sins and Shadows,' 'The Accolade,' and the title track. Even then, the title track isn't terribly amazing; much of it is simply based on exchanging guitar and keyboard solos at 200 beats per minute. Though, compared to the rest of the album, this is very good.

Suffice it to say I'm not a very big metal fan, especially of the power and speed kind. This album is the perfect example of lost potential.

4/10