UTOPIA

The changes from heavy metal to clean melodic piano is superb. Then the vocal comes in and reminds me of Greg Lake. For this style of music in this day and age, to hear a crisp, clean pitch perfect vocal is refreshing. Excellent and awesome! Now for a review of the tracks:

1. Kono Yume - I love this track. It sounds like Genesis in a lot of ways. I get plesantly lost in it.

2. Breathe - It starts with a beautiful melody folding into a great heavy progressive metal sound, but not overdone. It then moves to a solid progressive rock movement transitioning into a melodic piano / vocal that is captivating and then back again. It is reminiscent of Genesis "Trick of the Tail", but does not sound like a cheesy copy or stale remake. They are clearly in step with contemporary progressive rock as they create new material that can be appreciated by multiple generations. The musicianship on this track is incredible, with time signature changes, complicates riffs, and complex synth runs.

3. Obsession - The third track starts with a very modern Gent sound that then starts to integrate a Dream Theater feel. It is not a new concept, but integrates a a wider variety of newer and older sounds and influences from bands such as BTBAM, Opeth, Porcupine Tree, ELP, Dream Theateer and Genesis. There is also a Crack the Sky Feel to this song, but most of you will not who that is unless you are very broad minded prog fans.

4. Blue - This track starts with a march that folds into some really driving prog-metal movements. This song develops into some fine progressive metal. There are elements of solid progressive rock here with grand symphonic movements sounding like Yes and Porcupine tree at moments. This song is truly a masterpiece.

5. Unfair - A nice jazz introduction moves into some great symphonic elements that are simply mind blowing. This song progresses into a very energetic and complete track. The guitars are awesome and the keys are both complimentary and bombastic at times. The organ at the end of the track is memorable.

6. Utopia - This track starts with a little piece that sounds like it is being played through an old radio. It sounds like something from another time period, but then breaks into a very strong heavy (but not metal) movement. The next section has almost a ballet quality. The music transitions into a "Dream Theater" style progression with actually seem a little out of place for how the record started. Somehow it works itself out and concludes satisfactorily. The second half of the track has a lot of changes, including heavy moments and pretty guitar parts as well. It also has fully integrated keyboard with lead guitar elements intertwined into one which is what really gets me off.

This is definitely one of my favorite records of the year; however I will say that the composition is lacking a sense of continuity. For a debut, this is awesome. The music is awesome, the musicianship is awesome, and the composition is good and the recording is fair. Overall this is a great record especially for a debut release. I give it 4.5 rounded up to a 5.

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