VENUS

If there is a female prog metal demographic, Hemina got it cornered. But this is no Nightwish. If a word comes to mind, it's oversaturation. Not in a negative sense - you come back from listening feeling like a kid who ate too much Halloween candy. After the relative streamlineness of Nebulae, they come back to the sprawlingness of Synthetic, with four 10- minute songs and a threesome of seven-minutes. Not only have you got those very loud odd-time "gjenty" riffs, but ample shredding on top of that and even an occasional sax. Vocals mostly sugary, but throwing in deep crooning and screaming as well (although they seem too processed to me). And just as you think a bridge in a song is over, you get hit with 3 more. I think the guys were trying to show that they can do it all. An impressive effort, to be sure, but too crammed. Unlie previous efforts, this one requires multiple spins to sort out the melodies beheath the bombast.