FOR THE LOVE OF ART AND THE MAKING

Beyond Twilight's ambitious third album gets my pick for best prog album of 06. For the Art of Love and making is a 38 minute suite divided into 43 very short tracks. I feel that it simply should have been one track, but that's beside the point and it doesn't affect the album at all. Thank God iTunes now offers gapless playback or else this would have driven me insane. Björn Jansson's vocals are superb, going from clean to growls to piercing screams. The rest of teh band delivers one of the heaviest prog metal albums of the year, alongside Christ 0. The greatest part of this album is that it hooks you on the first listen. It's a lot more enjoyable than a lot of prog albums.

The album's dizzying time changes and counter-melodies can leave you drooling.The album starts off with chanting that sounds like Ave Maria. Then the guitars come in for the spooky Creep Evil before pummeling you. Six minutes later, synths come in that momentarily break the flow, but the solo is great. The rest of the album alternates between heavy guitars and slightly softer synths, but it never gets truly soft.

If Beyond Twilight continues to make creative and (gasp!) enjoyable music, they'll be making masterpieces in no time.

Grade: B+