UTOPIA

It was since Second Life Syndrome that I wasn't hit by a prog-metal album in this way, and if we think that it's a debut album and that I had this "Utopia" from the Israeli "Distorted Harmony" as a free download, this means that this band has a big future in front of it and the value for money of this album leads to a "divide by zero exception".

The opener "Kono Yume" is enough. It has excellent keys and guitar solos. It has melodic symphonic moments and it has very powerful metal and a classical influenced coda. Then it's followed by a song started by acoustic guitar and keyboards. A symphonic intro followed by a heavy bass which introduces a powerful metal section. Riverside and Pain of Salvation are the bands which come to mind, but this is Distorted Harmony: the sung part has Crimsonian dissonances and very frequent changes and the keyboard solo which preceeds the symphonic section of "Breathe" sounds skillful like the Artension of Vitalij Kuprij.

The album proceeds with "Obsession" which is my favorite song here. The initial "slow" part sounds Crimsonian again, also the vocalist reminds sometimes Greg Lake (which is one of my all time favorite singers). The transition to the metal part is slight and I think again to Riverside with the addition of a very fast keyboardist like Kuprij. It's a fantastic song. After the key solo there's a symphonic transition which brings us back to the "melodic" section. Melodic but dark and powerful.

"Blue" is a fantastic metal track with nothing to envy to the big names. Also this song at a certain point slows down for a while crossing the border with the symphonic prog, but the metal parts are where the band is able to better capture the listener. Another five stars song with a stupendous final.

Piano again and strings for "Unfair". This track has a folk flavor well mixed into the metal base. Fans of the genre will surely fall into this sonic web. This is the only track on which the oriental element seems to emerge from behind. It's similar to what can be heard in some System of a Down songs (btw it's a band that I love and I think Tankian alone is prog enough for this site, but I'm going off topic). Not that the prog elements are sinking: the fretless bass short solo introduces another exciting symphonic metal part. Well, symphonic metal is a subgenre that I have invented just now..... It's another fantastic track on which keyboards and guitar alternate their exciting riffs and with an excellent melodic base, too.

Finally the title track. The intro has a classical mood. It could also be a piece of classical music that I don't know. After one minute the guitar makes clear to everybody that this is metal, but if I try to imagine how this guitar would sound without distortion I see Steve Howe. Nothing to do with the YES, anyway. The band is of course closer to Dream Theater than to classic prog, but those songs have a lot inside. The acoustic passages can be found in many other metal songs, but this could be even Roger Waters with the acoustic guitar behind a speech. This long song is structured as an epic. I think nobody would be concerned if I call it a "short epic". The last 2 symphonic minutes are a perfect closure for this excellent album.

As usual, when I review prog metal I'm used to give high ratings. It's because I'm not a prog metal fan, and if I review an album of this kind is because it's particularly good for me. This is the case. As I have done years ago with Second Life Syndrome I'm going to rate this album as a masterpiece: the prog-metal album of the year for me.

Enjoy it.