ZERO HOUR

Specs of Pictures Burnt Beyond is the fourth full-length studio album by American progressive metal act Zero Hour. The album was released in 2006 through Sensory Records. For the second album in a row the band has changed lead vocalist as Fred Marshall who sang on A Fragile Mind (2005) has been replaced with ex-Power of Omens vocalist Chris Salinas. As I was not very happy about Fred Marshall´s voice and vocal style on A Fragile Mind I was really excited about the prospect of a new lead singer in Zero Hour. As it turns out my expectations that a new vocalist would bring back some of the magic from the Erik Rosvold ( the first lead vocalist in Zero Hour) days, are fully met.

The music is technical progressive metal. Zero Hour is one of the few bands in the genre who has a very unique and easily recognizable style IMO. Lots of fast chromatic runs in unusual time signatures but with memorable and melodic vocal lines to bring some dynamic and accessibility into an otherwise very dark, heavy and challenging soundscape. New lead vocalist Chris Salinas is a great asset to the band´s sound IMO. His voice is very similar to the voice of Ray Alder ( Fates Warning, Engine, Redemption) which might be a problem for some but isn´t for me. The man can´t help being born with a voice that happens to be very similar to the voice of someone else ( I wish I was born with a voice like that) and his performance on this album is impeccable. A very skilled vocalist.

There are seven tracks on the album. All excellent technical progressive metal songs ( well there´s one ballad too). Songs like Face the Fear ( OK I have to admit that when Chris Salinas starts singing in this song it does sound just a bit too much like Fates Warning), The Falcon´s Cry and Evidence of the Unseen are prime examples of why Zero Hour is one of the most succesful bands in the genre.

The musicianship is excellent. Lots of challenging playing and a unique approach to writing music.

The production is excellent too. very professional and well sounding.

Specs of Pictures Burnt Beyond is a great return to form for Zero Hour and while the album doesn´t quite reach the heights of my favorite by the band The Towers of Avarice (2001), I still find it to be an excellent technical progressive metal album fully deserving a 4 star rating.

A Fragile Mind is the third ( I don´t count Metamorphosis (2003) because it´s a re- release of the debut album) studio album from American progressive metal act Zero Hour. I´m a big fan of Zero Hour´s second album The Towers of Avarice (2001) and Metamorphosis is a great album too. One of the greatests features on those albums in addition to the great technical progressive metal was lead singer Erik Rosvold. Finally a distinct lead singer in a progressive metal band. Unfortunately Erik Rosvold left Zero Hour before the recording of A Fragile Mind and new lead singer Fred Marshall was drafted.

The music on A Fragile Mind is closer to the technical progressive metal of a band like Watchtower than it is to the more subtle song oriented approach of a band like Fates Warning. In fact it seems that many of the songs were written without considering a vocal melody. Sometimes that approach works just fine but in most cases which includes the case of A Fragile Mind the vocal melodies end up being less than memorable. So even when the songs are most melodic the melodies are not very strong. A Fragile Mind actually reminds me a bit of the old Sieges Even albums in that respect. I mentioned the unfortunate departure of Erik Rosvold above and it really is unfortunate because he had the ability to make memorable melodies over the technical and quite hard hitting progressive metal that the three other guys played. New lead singer Fred Marshall falls flat on his face when compared to Erik Rosvold. It´s not that he isn´t a technially skilled singer but he isn´t distinct and I rather dislike his voice and the way he uses it. I sound very negative here and that´s not at all my intention because even though some of the above mentioned flaws annoy me greatly A Fragile Mind is still a very professional and well crafted progressive metal album it just feels like Zero Hour has taken a step back in their development.

The musicianship is excellent. The Tipton brothers on guitar and bass respectively play their usual chromatic fast runs and drummer Mike Guy is also an excellent musician.

The production is professional and well sounding. Modern and clean metal sound.

As you can probably read out of my thought above I´m a bit disappointed with A Fragile Mind. Zero Hour is still a distinct progressive metal band but they just don´t have the vocal melodies or the singer to put them in the premier league of progressive metal anymore. I hope this will be better on future releases. A Fragile Mind is still worth a 3 star rating though which should tell all about the general high quality of the music when it´s actually an album that I´m disappointed about.

4.5 stars.This well may be their heaviest and most complex record yet.I still feel that "Specs Of Pictures Burnt Beyond" is their best, but i also feel that each one of their studio albums are must haves if your into heavy/complex metal.I love them all.Chris Salinas is back on vocals while the Tipton twins and drummer Mike Guy have been constants from the beginning. "The Power To Believe" is heavy right out of the gate.This is great! Thunderous drums 2 minutes in.Jasun starts to rip it up in his unique style 3 minutes in.The vocals and soundscape after 5 minutes are killer.Chris really offers up some different vocal styles on this album.Blistering guitar solo after 6 minutes.A childs voice ends it. "Dark Deceiver" is so heavy to open it's ridiculous.Haha.Screaming vocals and scorching guitar create organised chaos.Tipton's guitar solos are over the top! It settles down to a beautiful section with reserved vocals,almost like a drink of cool water on a hot and humid day.The heat comes back though,and it's blazing hot.Another calm ends the song.This final section really recalls OPETH's mellow moments. "Inner Spirit" is again hard and heavy to start.Killer bass and the guitar is fantastic.Vocals after 2 minutes.This is ground shakingly heavy.A calm with reserved vocals 6 minutes in.This is like heaven after 6 minutes of hell.Haha.This is such an incredible section that goes on until 10 minutes in when the heaviness is back.The lyrics are so spiritual and uplifting,not just on this song but throughout.I love the guitar and bass just before the crushing drums come back.Ripping guitar after 10 1/2 minutes. "Resurrection" again has such cool lyrics.This song contrasts the heavy instrumental passages with the lighter vocal sections. "Tendonitis" opens and closes with a child speaking(some humerous words) and in between we get this mind blowing bass solo from Troy. "The Temple Within" is heavy to open(what else?) as Chris comes in on vocals, he sings powerfully after a minute.A calm 4 minutes in.It's so emotional just before 5 minutes.Incredible lyrics. "Lies" opens with riffs as Chris cries out.He uses different vocal styles on this one.Pulverisingly heavy 3 minutes in. "The Passion Of Words" features some amazing bass and vocals.A calm before 2 1/2 minutes is quickly crushed.Great track. "Severed Angel" is an instrumental of different, distant industrial sounds(drums/bass) that build as they come and go.Amazing! So darn close to 5 stars for me.I may grow to like this even better than "Specs Of Pictures Burnt Beyond". Very cool to see it clock in at around 44 minutes too.

4.5 stars.It's important to know that this is a re-issue of ZERO HOUR's self titled debut.That one went out of print quickly as only 2,000 copies were originally produced.Travis Smith does the excellent cover art on this edition,and 2 tracks have been added to this one that were previously unreleased but recorded during the same sessions that birthed the debut record.Matt Guillory from DALI'S DILEMMA provides the guest keyboard work,except for on "Voice Of Reason" where Phil Bennett performs on keys.They thank a lot of bands including EVERGREY,POWER OF OMENS,SYMPHONY X,SUN CAGED,VANDEN PLAS,WOLVERINE,POVERTY'S NO CRIME,PAIN OF SALVATION,BLIND GUARDIAN and ANATHEMA where they say "we didn't steal your beer,New Jersey Dave did,LOL!!!". My first musical love is metal, and ZERO HOUR in my opinion are near the top of the prog-metal genre.Erik's vocals are amazing,and the tipton twins on bass and lead guitar will blow your mind with their unique and complex abilities.Mike Guy on drums provides the thunder. "Eyes Of Denial" opens with synths and lots of atmosphere before a crushing wall of sound arrives a minute in.A calm as vocals come in.Back to the heaviness and Jasun shows his stuff after 3 1/2 minutes. "The System Remains" opens with some heavy instrumental work.The vocals come in with synths and a lot of atmosphere.Great section.Heaviness joins in with piano.Amazing.Themes are repeated.This is such an incredible song.Jasun comes in shredding before 5 minutes followed by a flury of keys before Jasun ends it with another solo.The song continues to shift gears often. "Rebirth" opens with piano as reserved vocals join in.Erik sure can sing as he holds the note before it gets heavier before 2 minutes.Tipton rips it up as drums pound 4 1/2 minutes in. "Voice Of Reason" again sounds so good vocally as heaviness and complexity continue to impress.Love the background synths.Thunderous drums after 5 minutes,a calm follows.Female spoken words after 7 minutes.From 8 minutes to the end is absolutely incredible and emotional with the vocal melodies and synths. "A Passage" is an instrumental that opens with acoustic guitar before the electric guitar joins in.You have to hear this one. "Metamorphosis" is the final track and it's divided into 5 parts.First up is "Descent" a melodic track with great vocals.It's like a stampede to open though.Heaviness comes and goes,but i love the sections inbetween. "Awaken" opens with piano as heavy bass and synths join in, and then guitar.Vocals follow.I really like the guitar lines. "Union" is brighter sounding with piano early.It kicks into gear after 2 1/2 minutes with a barrage of drums.Tipton is busy after 4 1/2 minutes.Sounds like a choir before 5 1/2 minutes. "Solace" opens with a vocal sample of someone yelling emotionally.This is solace? Haha. "Ascent" is the uplifting closer.They all shine so bright on this final track. This is a great place to start for anyone wanting to check this band out.This one isn't as harsh or metallic as the records that follow.

This is Zero Hour's Masterpiece. The riffs, and everything about this album is GOLD. The bass playing is off the charts. I think the Tipton brothers finally found the missing link and created an amazing album. Every single track has something brilliant about it. I think Chris Salinas sounds amazing on this album, and really fits Zero Hour's music. One of the best Prog Metal/Tech Metal albums of 2008. I do not think many albums will compete with Jasun Tipton awesome melodies. Highly Recommended!!

Here in Dark Deceiver we can listen to Zero Hour finally finding a sound that's more unique, original and fresh. Unlike their previous albums there's not much of the rhythm repetition especially like Specs of Pictures Burnt Beyond or even The Towers of Avarice. There's a more experimental edge in Dark Deceiver Here like for example we can listen to Chris Salinas uses different styles and effects to create a wide variety of sounds and atmosphere making the songs have a more distinguishable sound. Although the songs have lost a bit of melodic flavor during the heavy parts the softer parts have gain more of this attribute, though they can be found less in the songs. Even with this factor to their side the guitar sweeps sound very similar to those on previous album, making the album bit annoying and repetitive as usual.

Dark Deceiver is filled with great moments and melodic times with the incredible vocals by Chris Salinas. Songs like The Power to Believe, Resurrection, The Temple Within and Lies are filled with tons of good moments typical to the band especially the last two. Yet my favorites would have to be Inner Spirit and The Passion of Words. In the first we can listen to Chris use an effect that makes his voice sound like James Labrie on The Great Debate (Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence). The song really starts to get good at the time 5:52. At this point the song gets really "addictive" (at least for me) and Chris Salinas voice could have never sound better. The Passion of Words on the other hand sounds aggressive and really different from your typical Zero Hour sound especially in the middle part. As for the rest songs they sound like fill ups like Tendonitis which is a bass solo with a strange kid talking and Severed Angels which is just noise in the beginning and the ending with a brutal riff.

In overall this album is big step for Zero Hour. It sounds fresh yet nothing innovating but filled with good moment to make it worth a while. If you're a fan Zero Hour definitely get it unless you're still stuck with Towers of Avarice.

A well earned 4.4!

If your a ZERO HOUR fan you need to know that this one continues with their formula of complexity and heaviness.Man is it heavy! A new vocalist is on board by the name of Fred Marshall and he doesn't disappoint,in fact he also had a hand in writing the lyrics for these songs.Travis Smith did the cover art as usual.Some of the bands they thank are POWER OF OMENS,EVERGREY,WATCHTOWER,SUN CAGED,SYMPHONY X,PAIN OF SALVATION,WOLVERINE,BLIND GUARDIAN and SILENT FORCE. After a 6 second intro track they get into it with "There For Me".It starts of with synths that are quickly wiped out by a stampede of drums and bass.The bass is huge! Vocals join in before some cool sounding guitar 2 1/2 minutes in that seem to swirl.An eerie calm after 3 minutes before the heaviness returns. "Destiny Is Sorrow" opens with more thunderous drums and bass as the guitar comes in and out.Vocals before a minute.Very heavy riffs 3 minutes in.I like the calm before 4 minutes with reserved vocals that lasts 2 minutes.Nice. A great sound 6 1/2 minutes in with vocals.An atmospheric calm again to end it. "Brain Surgery" is crushingly heavy with vocals.A change 2 minutes in as it settles down briefly then back to the thunder. "Losing Control" isn't as heavy(it's still heavy) as the other songs but is rather atmospheric at times.Mike Guy puts on a drum clinic here.Complex guitar parts too "Twice The Pain" is a dark song with heavy outbursts.It builds with prominant bass before vocals come in.Great track. "Somnecrophobia" is a heavy duty instrumental with some excellent guitar. "A Fragile Mind" is the amazing 11 1/2 minute title track.A tasteful guitar intro with vocals after a minute.Bass and drums add some bottom end 3 1/2 minutes in.Very heavy before 5 minutes with deep spoken vocals.A great sound when it lightens briefly.It settles again before 8 minutes and i love the guitar that follows. "Intrinsic" is another instrumental.This one is a fantastic laid back number with some heavy bass.It even gets spacey 3 1/2 minutes in to the end.Incredible tune.This album seems to get better as it plays out. While i may prefer "The Towers Of Avarice" and later albums,this one is well worth 4 stars.The second half of the album isn't as punishing as the first half and it makes for a nice contrast.

Interesting that the band thanks POWER OF OMENS in the liner notes because that bands singer at the time was Chris Salinas,who would eventually become ZERO HOUR's vocalist on Specs Of Pictures Burnt Beyond.This record is a concept album about a society who becomes enslaved to a thoughtless industrial ideal.The towers' appetite for energy and progress is so great that human beings become it's only remaining resource for power.Worked until dead and then used to feed it's machinery,the towers continue to rise without any concern for the welfare of the people.On the outside however,lives the Subterranean.This self-proclaimed saviour lives beneath the city and believes he alone can liberate society from it's oppressor. This was taken from the liner notes. The Towers Of Avarice opens with an ominous soundscape before guitar and then a full crushing sound arrives a minute in.Check out the bass! The Tipton brothers are waging war on this song.Vocals 2 1/2 minutes in as he sings slowly and deliberately,almost speaking.It's heavy as hell a minute later.Thunderous drums, and the bass is unbelieveably deep.The floor boards in the truck are shaking! The Subterranean is similar in sound to the first track exept the vocalist is actually singing.The lead guitar is ripping it up and there are tons of bottom end again like on the first song. Stratagem is a break from the relentless heaviness as bass,drums and guitar open the proceedings.Ok that didn't last long as it gets heavy, then even heavier as the guitar grinds away.A calm before 2 1/2 minutes as vocals arrive.They get quite theatrical as slabs of bass and drums are hurled at us over and over again.The tempo picks up 4 1/2 minutes in.Love the mellow section 5 minutes in with reserved vocals.It lasts a minute. Reflections is my least favourite track and it's about as close to ballad-like that ZERO HOUR will come.Synths late to end it are cool though. Demise And Vestige is my favourite song on here and it's almost 16 minutes long.A guitar riff and lava-like bass as drums come and go.Vocals and a calm before 2 minutes.Vocals get angry after 3 minutes as the sound starts to build.It's built! Another calm 4 1/2 minutes in before the heaviness returns 2 minutes later.Outstanding lead guitar work.More incredibly heavy bass 7 minutes in.An ominous section arrives before the guitar comes in followed by chunky bass and vocals.I really like this passage.It gets heavy again.Amazing sound 15 minutes in as it settles down again.There is some fantastic lead guitar solos in this song. The Ghosts Of Dawn is atmospheric to start as piano eventually comes in followed by vocals .Background synths are a nice touch.Vocals are almost spoken but they do get theatrical.It gets kind of spooky 5 minutes in to the end of the song and album. I have to say that i don't think i've ever heard heavier bass lines than what's offered on this album.Amazing.This is a dark and gloomy concept album that is absolutely brilliant.

The second album from Zero Hour called The Towers of Avarice impressed me a great deal. It´s a really dark and math like progressive metal style that I find pretty innovative. But before Zero Hour made that excellent album, they had released their self-titled debut album in 1999. Metamorpheous is a re-issue of that album and not the third album from Zero Hour. It´s pretty important to bear in mind when listening to Metamorpheous, because if you expect this to be the successor to The Towers of Avarice you might be disappointed. Not that Metamorpheous is a bad album in any respect, but it´s not quite as innovative or well produced as The Towers of Avarice.

I haven´t heard the original edition of this album, but I can see that some songs have been added. Both Rebirth and A Passage are very good songs that together with the original songs make´s this album excellent in my eyes/ ears. Allthough the style is a bit different from The Towers of Avarice I really like this style too. Unlike the very stripped down The Towers of Avarice this one is filled with keyboards and there are even keyboard solos.

The production is not really good, but it´s ok.

The real asset here besides the competently played and melodic progressive metal is lead singer Erik Rosvold who I already praised in my review of The Towers of Avarice. He has a very distinct and powerful voice and his delivery is so emotional in every way that he alone pulls this album from 3 stars to 4. That man is one of my favorite progressive metal singers without a doubt. Too bad he left Zero Hour after The Towers of Avarice. Metamorpheous might have been released after his departure, I´m not sure.

I still prefer The Towers of Avarice over this one, but Metamorpheous is not far behind. It´s a very worthy purchase if you´re into progressive metal that are a bit darker than your average prog metal band.

The Towers of Avarice is a strong and complex release from the California metal band ZERO HOUR. I see two main focuses with ZERO HOUR, complexity and the story line. This does not mean every other part of the album fails, because in fact they really succeed in creating a well rounded album.

The album starts off with some synthesized sound effects (that also start off the last song on the album), which then leads into one of my favorite songs on the album, The Towers of Avarice. The listener travels through a sci-fi story throughout the album, a story based upon one man who must destroy these Towers of Avarice. It's an interesting story, although not very original. Each song remains strong, with no real weakpoints within the actual songs. The only song I would consider a weakpoint of the album is Reflections. They took out the energy to try and make a slow and emotional song, and I feel like it could have been a little bit stronger.

In general, ZERO HOUR has a lot of power in their sound, with amazing guitar tone (for what they play), and superb musicianship. All players stand out in almost every song, and they make a very good and complete band. I would highly recommend this album to any fan of Prog Metal. 4 Stars.