A.C.T

Third album from 2003 named Last epic, even has it moments of greatness is for me less intresting and convinceing, at is less progressive. Now they almost sound like a AOR band with prog leanings here and there. Again the music is up tempo with good parts, combining prog metal passages but without being a prog metal band with more bombastic parts, Imagine Saga meets Dream Theater for example. The pieces are shorter, but is a well balance between heaviness and more melodic parts. Is an ok album for me, nothing is groundbreaking here , I prefere Imaginary friends much more. 3 stars, good effert but kind far from masterpieces status.

A.C.T from Sweden is one of the intresting bands emerged in progressive field in last decade or so. Imaginary friends is their second album from 2001 and by far their best from all 4 albums released byt he band so far. This type of prog is so hunted by many listners in last decade, with fat sound and great ideas overall. The music is a mixed of everything with influences from Queen, Styx, bombastic arrangements and they toying even with some prog metal passages, but in the end A.C.T. is nothing but an excellent band with their own ideas and delivering a very solid album. All pieces are strong special, at least for me the first part of the album, with great guitars, nice voice and blistering musicianship.This is the type of singable release, happy atmosphere and fun to listen. 4 stars easy, definetly thir most complete album.

What makes me like A.C.T so much is their unique blending of styles.

Since I listened to their debut Today's Report, I've payed more and more attention, cause they're Progressive Metal, but they aren't, they're AOR, but they aren't, they're are classic Prog Rock, but they aren't.

THAT makes them interesting, you can see a heavy riff AND a violin, like in 'A Supposed Tour'. You have all these pop melodies all around, and Herman Saming vocals are unique!

I guess they have a unique sound in general, I, at least, don't know any other band that looks like them!

It's good to see they are recording a new album right now as I'm writting this little review.

I was excited for a follow-up release to the fantastic 'Last Epic' and awaited this release with the fidgety behavioral tendencies of a 10 year old suffering from ADD. I can't even begin to express my excitement upon receiving this release, I ran to my CD player, threw it in and song by song my giddy expression slowly dissipated into a mix of utter shock and unparalleled disappointment.

This album was a mistake.

None of the songs hold up well on their own, and as a cohesive album I can't bear to even try to listen to it anymore... I gave it a few shots after my initial fiasco but each time was met with the same regret upon purchasing the CD.

The songs are typical of A.C.T and I'm sure people will find many of the things they like about the band still remains, but what is missing is any remnant of ambition whatsoever, which I found to be the band's saving grace up until this point.

A truly poor album and should not be purchased unless you are a die-hard fan of the band.

What can I say? This is one of my favorite albums of recent years, with complex musicianship all around and soaring melodies that get stuck in your head for days.

The music is well constructed, well preformed and a lot of fun. I can't help but sit here with a big dumb grin on my face bobbing my head to this delightful music.

The album is an improvement over its predecessor 'Imaginary Friends' and league's better than 'Silence' which came afterwards and remains one of my biggest musical disappointments ever.

Some key songs are 'wailings from a building' and 'torn by a phrase' but you have to hear how the whole album sounds together to truly appreciate it.

Reccomended to all who enjoy some fun upbeat prog, so close to a masterpiece, but just a little bit too uneven.

(4.5/5)

I have a fair bit of respect for this album, it's always nice to hear a band progress on their sound and try to develop themselves as musicians which, fortunately, is something that A.C.T does. This album is a giant step forwards and works as a wonderful precursor to their magnum opus 'Last Epic'.

I don't know what else to say, this is a good album, everything is enjoyable (except the vocals which for me is a personal thing)... But there is nothing beyond that. It is one of those albums you put on, play, enjoy and then ultimately (and perhaps even reluctantly), forget about.

I suppose I can tell you some of my favorite songs are 'Imaginary Friends', 'Biggest Mistake' and 'Mr. Unfaithful' and perhaps impose some more individualistic, opinion-driven, ideologies on you but there you have it.

A good album, a large step forward... Nothing more.

A fine debut from an excellent band! This album established A.C.T's sound which hasn't diverged all that much from this album. I believe that A.C.T is one of those bands that suffer from the 'hear one album and you've heard them all' pandemic (see Ozric Tentacles for a full explanation on this disease).

Unfortunately, this wasn't the first album I heard from A.C.T and due to that small fact, I cannot hold it up to my first experience with the band and this album just feels like it falls short. This isn't a bad album, and if you are a fan of the band's eclectic pop-prog sound then I am sure you will love this album but it just doesn't cut it for me. In fact, I find after the very first song (which I actually quite like) there is very little to keep me engaged.

They have what you've come to expect from A.C.T, they have their diabolic key changed, goofy quirks, incessantly whiny 'boy band' vocalist, the soaring keyboards that are truly all that keep me engaged here.

If you enjoy A.C.T, you will enjoy this album... If not then there isn't anything special on here for you. A fine debut but nothing more.

*2.5 stars really, rounded up due to my unjustified hatred of the vocalist.

Now here's a band I've been looking forward to checking out.

I came across the name of A.C.T. in a forum post where they were compared to the Sweedish popsters ABBA. Being an ABBA fan (and not afraid to admit it), a more prog version of that style of music immediately appealed to my musical taste buds.

However, I found that a lot of the stand alone songs on this album sound similar to what I've heard from the band Enchant. Especially the vocals, which I found sounded like Ted Leonard's.

Silence is an album that is split into two parts. The bulk of the album is made up of stand alone tracks of about four minutes each. The second half of the album is a long, multi-part piece called "Consequences" which is split into a nine tracks.

Now just in case the ABBA comparison set my expectations a bit too high, I've given Silence a number of listens. I even took a break from it and came back to listen to it again. Each time I've found that the majority of the tracks here are mid-tempo rockers that would blend together if it weren't for the space in between them.

There are a few moments which are worth mentioning. The chorus part of "Useless Argument" reminds me of the chorus of Paul McCartney's "No More Lonely Nights" (though that's not a huge endorsement for a supposed prog-rock album) and "Call in the Dead" may be about the best track before the epic with a nice multi-vocal part that is slightly reminiscent of Queen.

The epic track, "Consequences", is pretty enjoyable. I honestly wouldn't have minded an entire album in this style as it is much more interesting to my ears. The epic is, in truth, made up of a number of shorter set pieces, but each section is distinct from the next while maintaining a place within the overall composition. As a whole, this is easily the highlight of the album.

Overall: Silence is by no means a terrible album, but it's not a terribly good one either. It isn't an album that I will think about very often. A decent mini-epic plus one or two other tracks saves it from being a complete snoozefest. I'd only recommend it to completionists and hardcore fans.

Highlights: "Useless Argument", "Call in the Dead", "Consequences"

This album holds very high status in my collection. If I were to introduce someone to the Progressive Rock genre by handing them a stack of 10 albums, this would be one of them. If I were to do this with a stack of 5 albums, this would be one of them. And I have a very large collection. Whenever I pull this album out to listen to it, for days afterwards I find myself humming or whistling sections of the album. I sometimes find myself remembering and humming or whistling sections of this album even after months of not listening to it. This is an incredibly unique album. The best way I can think to describe this album is with Peter Pan's words: "Oh the cleverness of me!" I pick this phrase not only because "clever" is the best word to describe the album, but also because of the playfulness of the band - like a musical Peter Pan. The album is a concept album that introduces different residents of an apartment building as musical characters. In one of the songs, titled "Wake Up ? Apartment 122", I believe the apartment itself is made into a character. The music of this song itself is very playful, like a Progressive Reggae. But the lyrics are especially playful - here is a section: All these weird things that I am seeing, Glad I'm not like a human being, Losing temper, and problems with PMS? This album is a masterpiece, and you should listen to it. I PROMISE you it will be a fun experience, at the very least.

A.C.T were one of the first bands I started listening to on my return to modern prog. I have a love of melodic and symphonic prog. A.C.T's music is accessible and fun and has many influences. Their arrangements are a strange but intriguing hybrid of orchestration, pop and melodic prog. Personally, I love their musical style.

'Silence' is the first A.C.T album I listened to and turned me on to the rest of their albums, all of which I purchased based on the strength of 'Silence'. I'm not going to go into song by song descriptions, but the music is upbeat, optimistic and uplifting to listen to. They have a very wide range of diverse influences. You can clearly hear Queen in 'Call in Dead'. Frankly, I love it. Long live prog and long live A.C.T!