BEYOND THE EXOSPHERE

Some wonderful sound innovations by this band from Toronto contrasted by some very old sounding metal music sounds and tricks. Weird! Upon re-listening to this album for the second and third times I even found myself wondering if songs #2 & #3 were recorded 30 years ago--or if it was even the same band members that recorded them!

1. "Beyond the Exosphere" (17:53) Some absolutely brilliant, gorgeous, and powerful musics side-by-side with some rather blasé run-of the mill metal--which is disappointing as this could've been one of the year's stellar epics. Still, my second favorite song on the album. (32/35) 2. "Under Control" (4:48) Time warp! we're in the 1980s! (8/10) 3. "Freedom" (4:39) More old metal! What happened to the band that made that excellent opening epic? (8.25/10) 4. "Closer to the End" (7:06) some cool effects--like the choral vocals and the alternating machine gun bass and kick drum riffs alternating with Mellotron "ohs." My third favorite song on the album. (13/15) 5. "Intonate" (6:48) great multi-voiced vocals throughout. The best song on the album. (14.5/15)

Total Time 41:14

B+/4.5 stars; a near-masterpiece collection of songs, some reaching metal prog perfection while others feel as if they were pulled out of some 1980s metal-by-numbers playbook.