REBUILDING THE RUINS

Before I even listened to this album I had very high expectations. For one, it was a concept album, so I assumed that "Rebuilding the Ruins" would have very nice flow to it. Also, from what I had heard, the musicianship on this album was very good. I was not let down on either point. Images of Eden have produced a very solid album that is very enjoyable.

Everything that they play sounds good. Usually, a band has at least one part on an album were they don't sound as good as the beginning, but Images of Eden sounds good all throughout. It starts in the first song "Crosses in the Sand" where very cool sound effects transfer into a pretty good guitar lick which is very tight with the drums. Something unique about this song is that the drums are kind of muddled in the beginning, which makes it have a funkier sound to it. Since the drums are more out of the picture, it leaves room for great solos by Dennis Mullin. The guitar solos on this album are very drawn out and make it much more progressive than metal, unlike many new progressive metal bands which, in my opinion, focus much more on metal. This puts them apart from the other new progressive metal bands out there. Since it is a concept album, "Rebuilding the Ruins" has many repeating themes that the band employs very well throughout. The themes seem to be mostly in the drums, guitars, and sometimes the bass guitar. The flow of the album is very nice, especially when it goes from the first half of the album, to the second half. What's cool in this case is that, it gets heavier, and faster, adding new interest in the album.

The second half of the album starts with the title track, "Rebuilding the Ruins", which features a very "Black Clouds and Silver Linings"-era Dream Theater sound. After the heavier parts it transfers to a lighter, airier part in which the vocal harmonies become more evident. It moves between the harmonies and deep, dark vocals. Gordon Tittsworth really has great vocal skills and he shows it throughout the album. He uses at least three different styles of singing that he employs throughout the album. One of them, which is my favorite, is an almost Fish-era Marillion sounding style that he uses a lot, and is definitely the one that matches best with Images of Eden's playing style. My least favorite is very nasally, but he doesn't sing with it that much, so it doesn't detract that much from my overall enjoyment of the album that much. Another cool one that he uses when the songs get heavier and darker is a deep, almost growl style that is really interesting.

The production is almost perfect. Eric Zimmermann (Fates Warning, Limp Bizkit, Deftones, Buckcherry, and Suicidal Tendencies) does a very good job of integrating all the music together, but there are some slight discrepancies. The only noticeable one is during some of the guitar solos the sound is a bit chintzy, though that might be the sound they are looking for.

All this being said, "Rebuilding the Ruins" is still a very good release from Images of Eden. I would recommend this to any fan of progressive metal in general, and also to fans of lighter metal, too. So for their great new chapter in their story Images of Eden gets 4 stars.

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