SOPHISTICATED

Sieges Even have distinctive stages in their development. After 3 technically and structurally highly complex albums with bad vocals running the scale from thrash to psychedelia to art rock, which often rapidly hopped from theme to theme, they did 2 similar albums, the 1995's Sophisticated, reviewed here, and 1997's Uneven, in a more power metal style, heavily influenced by wild jazz and funk. The changes are, believe it, less abrupt. If you are not that much into avant-garde and this is your first Sieges Even album, you'll probably ask how is it even possible that this is not their wildest stuff. It's still a challenging listen. Most songs are hyperactive, with instruments flying out in all the directions. Vocalist shows off too, sometimes venturing out to Freddy Mercury-ish theatrics. Even so, there are more melodic tracks here, like Dreamer for example.