NATURE/EXISTENCE

My phrase above was taken from the pro boxing circuit where everyone was looking high and low for the new white heavy weight boxer who could take the sport to another level and to greater pay days. That white hope never materialised though and that sport floundered.

The prog metal scene has also been looking for the next great thing after Dream Theater has been a bit wobbly lately. Echoes from Venezuela may just be this next big thing. This, their debut album has been praised like gold dust in most prog metal magazines around this globe. With good reason.

The first part of this album tells tales about a band engrossed in Dream Theater. Much of the sound has been borrowed from the theater and recycled by Echoes into this album. But this album and Echoes also have something Dream Theater has lost lately: The ability to surprise and to come up with something extra. Echoes is by no means just a Dream Theater clone. You find a lot of Queensryche and Rainbow in their music. Echoes must also have had a look at the likes of Sigur Ros and the post rock scene. The result of this amalgation of influences is an album which sounds very much like 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. That's what makes this album to what it is.

Nature/Existence is a truly great album which throws up surprises, certainties and brilliance at the same time. Even the vocals are great here. There are no truly brilliant songs here and that is my only gripe with this album. But this is very much a great album which points out the road ahead for the progressive metal scene.

4 stars

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