POVERTY'S NO CRIME

The Autumn Years boasts nine songs of straightforward progressive metal, with all of the members on top of their game. Bassist Christian Scheele and drummer Andreas Tegeler come together to form one of the strongest rhythm sections I've heard from a struggling band, with driving fills and beats from Tegeler, while Scheele provides many grooving pulses. Keyboardist Marcello Maniscalco provides great atmosphere and leads from his instrument, but sadly he is often buried in the mix, which is the album's only pitfall, but it's very noticeable. Guitarists Marco Ahrens, and Volker Walsemann (who also provides vocals) play great melodies and leads from their guitars, also the tone from the guitars on The Autumn Years sounds the best in my opinion (to be honest the tone on Slave to the Mind and One in a Million sounded like pure crap), and Walsemann's vocals aren't over the top, which is refreshing in this genre, instead opting for a laidback, somewhat oily delivery.

The Autumn Years begins with ''Ghost of a Stone'', which starts off with a nice gallop, before softening for a first verse and kicking back into gear for the rest of the song, and leading to one of my favorite choruses. ''Future in My Hands'' is one of my favorite cuts of off the album, it is impossible not to headbang to this one, because the rhythm will grab the listener by the balls, as you might say.

Is that a Chapman Stick I hear at the beginning of ''Rain of Gods''? It sure sounds like one, and it adds quality to Ahrens' acoustic intro, along with Maniscalco's organ accents. Despite the soft intro, ''Rain of Gods'' is another heavy track. ''Beat it When it Hurts'' is a song in the vein of ''Future in My Hands'', but displays much more progressive qualities.

The title track is the shortest, and my favorite track on the album, being the sole ballad. The song is mostly acoustic, with Maniscalco providing beautiful string accents, and guitar solos galore. ''The Autumn Years'' is without a doubt one of POVERTY'S NO CRIME's most beautiful tracks that they've ever recorded. ''Seconds'' kicks the album back into with a driving keyboard rhythm replicated by Scheele with headbanging results. ''Lead Me to the Door'' is a midpaced rocker, and is one of the slightly weaker tracks.

''Enter Nowhere'' and ''The Heroes Return'' are more fastpaced rockers to chew on rounding out the album in top form.

All in all, POVERTY'S NO CRIME crafted one of their best albums in the form of The Autumn Years. The mix could use some work, because Marcello Maniscalco is often buried in the mix and this somewhat detracts from the album's quality. But, other than that The Autumn Years is certainly an excellent addition to any prog music collection.

Save My Soul is PNC's sixth album, and it's quite different from the rest of their recent output. The guitars have a Maiden-ish tone to them sometimes when soloing, and Volker Walsemann's voice is much deeper than usual. The songs are a bit heavier too, but that doesn't make them any less good.

After a rather pointless intro track, the album actually starts with a bang with Systematic Chaos-era Dream Theater guitar acrobatics. The title track, and ''In The Wait Loop are two of the best cuts off of SMS. The former is driven by a repetitive, yet addictively enjoyable drumbeat, with Walsemann's oily vocals gliding above the band. The latter contains some attention-grabbing synths, along with a couple of Pink Floyd inspired breakdowns. The only flaw with Save My Soul is that a lot of the tracks are primarily heavy, with not enough soft sections. Other than that, fans of textbook progressive metal will be satisfied with this album.

"Walk Into Nowhere" opens with some atmosphere as sounds come and go until the song kicks into gear a minute in. Check out the bass ! Nice melodic guitar and then the vocals arrive followed by a galloping rhythm. A chunky bass solo is next before the vocals return. Some killer guitar 3 1/2 minutes in that goes on for some time. Just a feel good track. "Every Kind Of Life" is a darker track with more good bass as guitar plays over top. Love when the vocals come in with blazing synths. This one is very uptempo once the vocals came in. The tempo does shift throughout though. The organ is a nice touch 4 minutes in. "All Minds In One" opens with acoustic guitar and reserved vocals. Guitars and heaviness come crashing in. Check out the guitar melody 3 1/2 minutes in followed by some deep bass a minute later then organ. "A World Without Me" is the only track that i'm not a fan of. It does end well though.

"Terminal Trip" is an absolutely killer instrumental. The bass, the riffs, the background synths all work perfectly. "Pact With The Past" opens with some cool drumming and crying guitar before piano and then heaviness arrives. Vocals 2 1/2 minutes as it settles down. Heaviness is back 4 minutes in with some great organ runs joining in as well. Themes are repeated. "Left To Chance" is heavy duty to open as synths join in. It calms down as piano and vocals come in. The contrast continues. Check out the wicked guitar 1 1/2 minutes in. Great tune. "Moving Target" opens with riffs as vocals join in. Tasteful guitar follows then piano. Back to the riffs as the contrast continues. "Do What You Feel" opens with a flute like sound and then choir sounds before a sinister guitar riff comes in. The tempo picks up and slows down quickly. This is probably my favourite track. It rocks ! Heavy low end guitar is back with background synths joining in then vocals. Sounds like vibes 4 1/2 minutes in as the song rebuilds. Blistering guitar 6 1/2 minutes in.

A solid 4 star Prog-Metal album.

First and foremost, just take a minute and chew on the band's name; Poverty's no Crime... Brilliant. And when the musicians are THAT talented, and with lyrics that speaks so directly, taking terms up for discussion like that (as also Pain of Salvation and Pallas does), it is most certainly almost bound to be a success. I'm so tierd of all the bull[&*!#] lyrics alot of bands have, also alot of progressive bands, regardless of subgenre, about madness and disillusion and misery, and knights and dragons (Symphony X) that really don't speak to me personally, i really don't care about knights, it's not my thing (though i'm a fan of symph. x, it's not that), and we all know the world is a F***ed up place, and loonyness and lonelyness is just a mistake or coincident away from all of us, why does every progressive song be so depressive? I'm not requesting Happy Metal, but why not try to teach the listeners something, instead of just taking away their smiles and leaving them with a feeling that nothing can be fixed?

Thats what Volker Walsemann does with his writing, he has a message, a theory on way-of-life that we should all take a lesson from. The best examples on what I mean is track number three All Minds in One, and track number seven, Do What You Feel. Both this songs are Extremely well composed, both musically and lyrically, and are the highlights of the album(of the more heavy ones) together with track five Terminal Trip wich is an instrumental one.

When it comes to the more soft, ballad type of songs, track four A World Without Me and track ten Access Denied are equally good and well written. Rest of the tracks are more standard prog, not THAT good, but not bad either. And because of that this album gets four stars from me. Not a TRULY MINDBLOWING MASTERPIECE, but it contains masterpieces, if I can say it like that, and that makes the album a must have.

(Volker is by the way a decent singer, but you can easily hear that he is german, but he hasn't THAT much of an accent)

I really can't understand why these guys are not so well known...

"Access denied" opens with these vocal clips hitting us all at once. A great sounding melody follows with a good crunchy sound. A tasteful guitar solo 3 minutes in. "The Distant Call" opens with a sample of a space transmission. This is an excellent guitar driven tune, that is more uptempo than the opener. Some good riffs early with heaviness throughout. I like the synths 4 minutes in followed by a guitar solo. "A Matter Of Mind" is a little darker. Nice. Synths are prominant in this one early before crunchy guitars come in. Vocals 1 1/2 minutes. I like the guitar 4 minutes in and a minute later.

"The Senses Go Blind" is the heaviest yet. Vocals after a minute as it lightens somewhat. Heaviness is back 4 1/2 minutes in briefly with a guitar solo to follow it up. "Wind And Light" has such a good drum / guitar intro before it settles down as reserved vocals come in with synths and strummed guitar. Soaring guitar 3 minutes in. Here we go with "Manic" an uptempo rocker that ends too soon. "Electronic Eyes" opens with tribal-like drumming. This song has attitude, although it lessens when the vocals come in. Ripping guitar after 2 minutes. Great tune though. "Now And Again" features a lot of riffs throughout. The guitar reminds me of IRON MAIDEN at times. Awesome sound 6 minutes in. "Live In The Light" sounds incredible early. It settles down when the vocals come in. The guitar cries out 3 1/2 minutes in as riffing continues. Amazing sound 5 minutes in.

Barely 4 stars from me, but an album I enjoy a lot.