STEPS

Sieges Even's second album is a somewhat bold step forwards from their Watchtower- ish debut, "Steps" is much more unique, melodic and sophisticated, sounding very much like Rush in the guitar tone but with the incredible technical skills of Watchtower mixed together. Another difference is that this album rarely has any "metallic" moments except a few harder notes on the guitar and the bass, but otherwise it's fairly calm. The arrangements are jarringly complex; I do not lie if I say that "Steps" is one of the most complex and intricate albums in the prog-metal genre. The epic opener, "Tangerine Windows of Solace" alone is stuffed with odd (and I mean ODD) time signatures and weird musical breaks, yet shows structure, focus and variation, a very challenging listen overall though and definitely not very accessible for some. The other songs are similar, only shorter but still filled with incredible complexity and very progressive and varied melodies. Sometimes they're not as focused and creative as the opening epic though, but that's only one of the two things that is weak about "Steps". The other thing is vocalist Franz Herdes' vocals, which is an acquired taste for almost all who have listened to this album; he sounds like a poorer version of Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden and does not handle all notes so well that he should. I think he's OK though but I think the album would have been much better if Jogi Kaiser (the vocalist on their "A Sense of Change" album) should take care of the vocals here instead.

The musicianship is brilliant; the Holzwarth brothers again show their huge talents on their instruments and they both masters this über-complex music perfectly. Notably Oliver Holzwarth does a mighty impressive job on bass and stands out as one of the finest bassist I've heard in a while. Markus Steffen's guitar playing is incredible as well and has a very unique guitar style. His work here is some of the best he's done with the band if you ask me! All three works wonderfully together and there's never any troubles technically here. Overall, this might not be the best Sieges Even album to start with though it defines their highly unique style well. "A Sense of Change" is a much better introduction since it's easier to "get" musically though they're both have similar styles to each other. If you like/love that one, you'll definitely find much to enjoy in this one. "Steps" deserves a 4.5 star rating from me!