HAVE A SEAT

Great Debut from prog metal band from Quebec

When I first heard of Inner Odyssey, I was very interest since I live in Quebec and like progressive metal. So I got my copy of Have A Seat and was pleasantly surprised. I was expecting another copy of prog metal bands like Dream Theater or Symphony X. Instead, Have A Seat uses these influences to create something different and very good.

The album starts with a 3 parts song more progressive rock than metal. Then it continues in a more metal vein while keeping a lot of prog parts along the way. The album really flows as if the whole thing was only one long song.

All the musicians are great without overplaying their instruments, like would do many other prog metal bands. The instrumental parts are not too long and the songs structure reminds of Porcupine Tree. While some people would complain about the vocal, I find it perfect for the kind of music they are creating.

Finally, Have A Seat is a great album. Even if it is progressive metal, it never get too heavy, and I think every progressive rock fans can appreciate it. I really think Inner Odyssey have a good future in the progressive rock community.

4.5/5

The music on this CD is a work of art, all resemblances with the reality or other type of music is accidental, or almost... Those words summed up my thoughts after listening this prog metal CD from this Quebec band.

From the spacey intro and the ballad type of song, i couldn't tell if it was a metal band, until the third part of "Light Years Away", where the music expand on the metal side with the keyboards up front and a fast tempo typical of Dream Theater. I could hear the same Petrucci's guitar sound and even the Jordan Rudess's keyboards.There is numerous tempo change from fast to super fast with a solid rhythm section, and a singer that doesn't have the perfect voice, but manage to do a good job to go along plenty of long instrumental passages. Some Dream Theater's influences are pretty obvious, the influences of their first period and their more heavy oriented period. The song "Blank Sheet Syndrome" has a short piano passage that is a ripoff of "The Mirror" from the Awake CD of Dream Theater.

I don't say that it's a total copy of the leader of the prog metal genre, it's more than that, especially with the song "Sinking" who contains again a spacey intro and the most variety of moods among all the tracks here. With some piano, acoustic and quieter passages, the band has succeed to keep the music interesting from start to finish despite some repeated themes and a lot of metal passages. It's never too heavy and too far away from progressive rock, so for that reason it should appeal also to the progressive rock audience, especially to those who enjoy Dream Theater.