TORN

The world of progressive metal has really been taking off all over the world since Dream Theater came onto the scene 30 years ago but it's taken a while for some of less metal nations to join the party. Coming from Turkey is a fairly new band called CLOUD THEORY that was originally formed as Woltran in the coastal city of Izmir in 2008 but the band took a while to figure out exactly which musical direction to take.

This band is a quintet that consists of Taylan Tokmakoğlu (vocals), Mert Kuldemir (lead guitar, backing vocals), Gökmen Yoldaş (rhythm guitar), Onur Özkara (bass) and Burak Dünal (drums). So far CLOUD THEORY has only released this one EP titled TORN which contains a mere three tracks but despite being classified as an EP still runs over the 35 minute playing time.

Having settled on a progressive metal sound with some power metal elements, CLOUD THOERY has crafted a sound that is right out of the prog metal playbook with operatic vocals, a central concept wrapped up with progressive time signature changes that involve heavy metal guitar, bass and drums along with an atmospheric cloud cover. The power metal parts come in with the super fast power chords being slammed at high speeds and in many ways is a bit like Leprous in how despite the music's aggression remains chilled due to the synthesized ambience and the vocals of Taylan Tokmakoğlu.

Like any good prog metal release, TORN is a concept album. This one happens to be about Xhaarn Sword, Balance-bringers and their relationships with the Kingdom of Grand Realm. The lyrics are all in English and tailor made for an international audience and the EP is supposed to be a mere teaser of a much larger concept album to come. The EP is professionally produced and sounds like a bonafide band that has made it to the big leagues.

TORN is an excellent display of power metal infused prog metal as the musicians are all on top of their game and the three length compositions which each extend past 10 minutes are all filled with nice melodic hooks that are extended into labyrinthine prog workouts. In many ways the band sounds like a more Dream Theater influenced version of Symphony X however although the band is quite competent in its delivery, does fail to put an original stamp on the prog metal world so hopefully some creative juices will unleash themselves on any future releases.

3.5 but i'll round up for the excellent quality