ANIMATIONS

The music on Animations is pretty close to the instrumental sections in Dream Theater´s music but maybe more correctly the music sounds very influenced by Liquid Tension Experiment. The technical level of the musicianship on the album is simply astonishing. I want to emphasise that these guys can play and I mean really play their instruments. There are several jaw dropping moments on the album. So that part of the album is first class. There is a slight problem about the album though that excellent musicianship can´t save. First of all this is a hard album to get through. 60 minutes of demanding intrumental music is a bit much IMO ( this won´t be a problem for some, so consider this a minor complaint). My second complaint is that the songs don´t stick that well in my head. It helps with repeated listens but sometimes I get the feeling that the songs are made to show off and not to evoke feelings. I simply miss some emotions. Be it anger, melancholy, happiness or whatever. The music to be honest leaves me a bit cold.

The production is professional and well sounding. Again maybe a bit too cold and not personal enough, but definitely professional. Quite the achivement for an independently released album.

I know I´m a bit harsh on this album, but being a virtuoso musician obligates IMO and Animations while full of challenging playing and the above mentioned jaw dropping moments lacks focused songwriting and a little less focus on playing if you ask me. Animations is still a greatly enjoyable album in small portions though and a 3.5 star rating is warranted. I expect great things from Animations in the future. They have so many great things going for them but still lack that final touch to earn the excellent mark. I´m sure they will get there in time.

There are piano parts here and there, even a touch of jazz on the second track (Demons of war) that reminded me of Uzeb (Québec jazz-fusion band).

I bought the album on Napster after listening to a few samples and I haven't look back since, very good album. They didn't reinvent the wheel of course but I was in for a good ride nonetheless.

Highly recommended !

ANIMATIONS is a young prog metal team, previously known as LABYRINTH.PL. In 2006, they rleased critically acclaimed promo EP. The band encouraged by those reviews was literally forced by fans to record a full length studio album. In 2007, the band recorded their first official LP and changed their name to ANIMATIONS. Their self-titled, self-produced album in the end was also self-released as none interesting label offer was proposed to the band.

The album contains high-speed intrumental prog-metal, strongly influenced by bands like Liquid Tension Experiment, Dream Theater or Planet X. It's 69 minutes of virtuosity, which can be a bit tiring particularly the tracks aren't very varied. Apart from the lack of originality, the album is very energetic, the band is eager to play and that energy and passion are really infecting the listener.

I'm impressed that there's such a great band literally next to the city I used to live. If you love high octane, high-speed technical prog-jazz-fusion-metal (Liquid Tension Experiment etc.), just get this album!

Very promising debut. 4 stars from me. Shred!