EMBRYO

While I liked Paragon Circus, I felt like it could've been a bit more. Glad that their sophomore album of Embryo ended up delivering on that front with some very great progressive metal jams.

While they do keep their sound off of their debut record, I find Altesia here to be coming in their own element more often than not now with this record, especially since it sounds a lot more original than the previous record. Paragon Circus did have a tendency of sounding kinda just sounding like a softer version of Dream Theater, but now on Embryo they have a much more grounded direction than just that. They sound confident to me, which I like.

They still do sound like Haken copycats still though on occasion. That is still something I think is holding the band back from being truly amazing.

But, even despite that, the band still creates a lot of fun music here. I noticed they upped a more retro prog flair on here on occasion, especially for songs like The Remedial Sentence and Exit Initia. A lot more keyboards on here than you'd expect, which works very well since I love moog synths in my metal.

I also find the epic of Exit Initia to be much better than Cassandra's Prophecy. Cassandra's Prophecy was great, don't get me wrong, but Exit Initia just feels more like a prog epic. It probably has something to do with it feeling like it has a much more proper beginning, middle, and end, which I think most great progressive rock/metal epics have. Would I consider the track the next Supper's Ready? No. But do I still think it's great? Absolutely!

Overall, despite still having a bit too much Haken-isms that hold it back, I found Embryo a much more enjoyable time, and it gets me very eager to see how the band improves on their next record.

Best tracks: The Remedial Sentence, Exit Initia

Worst tracks: N/A