REVIVISCENCE

Reviviscence is great! The album starts with "Obscurity Within", very dark entrance and continues with "Rotten Souls", the most powerfull Time Machine song ever! The listener will find jewels as Angel Lucifer and Seeds of Revolution with a fantastic acoustic guitar solo. It's impossible to describe this album in few lines because this work have many details, great soundscapes e much more! The new singer Marco Sivo is simply fantastic - sings with technical and feeling! All the musicians are great and lorenzo Dehò, as always make a excellent work!

Time Machine has had a long established career in progressive metal. Despite their small popularity this Italian band have released ten studio albums over 11 years. Quite a long catalogue they have isn't it? Their latest album Reviviscence delivers the same stunning quality that they have consistently delivered for the past eleven years of their career.

For this album Time Machine have also delivered an excellent cast of guests making cameos on the album, Rafael Bittencourt and Kiko Loreiro for Angra the two most known. On Revivscence the band takes a conceptual/theme approach about the evil in our world today, terrorism. The songs are neutral, but offer an artistic obserbvation on the conflicts in the Middle East. Not specifically the war on terrorism (I got a chuckle out of the Bush clip in "Grains of Sand"), but also on the Jewish and Palestinian conflict. Time Machine has delivered an album that is not of the past, not of the future, but of our time. The song titles may seem somewhat grotesque for such an intellectual album, but they are best viewed from up-close, to see the intellectual reasons for their selection.

The vocalist Marco Sivo delivers an amazing vocal performance. From the first lyrics in "Rotten Souls", a listener can immediately believe that the album is one with a talented and unique vocal performance. Sivo have a unique style and voice, which makes this album such an addictive listen. He uses a diverse range throughout the album, and calmly paces his phrases with excellent enunciation.

Gianluca Ferro and Gianluca Galli show off mass amounts of skill Both of these guitarists are endowed with amazing sweeping skills. Yet at the same time,posess an excellent ability to back off and play catchier melodies. The sweeps are their bread and butter though. Anyone that has a hunger for Jasun Tipton (Zero Hour) like precise guitar leads will without a doubt enjoy the performances from these two guitarists. These guitarists can also play slower controlled styles all throughout the album. In songs such as the title track, the acoustic parts in a song like "Tears of Jersusalem" nails the Middle Eastern concept and atmosphere of this album.

Lorenzo Deho makes more of an impact rythymnically supply the bottom end below a great vocalist, and two excellent lead guitarists. There's not really much space him to explore with his instrument, but the bass sets up some excellent harmonies, and really makes some of the slower songs come togethor. Deho also makes a contribution on keyboards on this album, where the atmosphere they produce really nails the mood.

Sigfrido Percich, much like the bassist Deho, makes more of a rythymnic contribution than a technical one. The drums provide a constant rock solid feel that really locks the band in. Percich isn't a busy drummer with endless fills, but he can roll across him toms to set up the next transition with admirable skill.

The production is excellent, especially the guitars. The atmospheric keyboards attack the listener in a variety of ways with excellent clarity. I can't be more complementary of the vocals, one of the clearest a listener will ever hear. After eleven years, a listner can expect good production from a band, Time Machine delivers just that.

This is an excellent addition to any fan of progressive metal, especially those that love the dark technique oriented albums releasted from Sensory Records.

It seems like this band has a different vocalist for every new album they release, and this is no exception. I also want to say that "Eternity Ends" is by far my favourite TIME MACHINE album and one I still listen to. I believe this concept album is the second in the trilogy. Some guests here including the two lead guitarists from ANGRA. And speaking of ANGRA this latest album from TIME MACHINE does have a Power-Metal flavour at times but not nearly as strong as ANGRA's style.

"Obscurity Within" opens with atmosphere and some orchestral sounds. Some power before a minute. "Rotten Souls" kicks in with a drum onslaught right away. Guitar joins in then it settles before kicking back in again. Vocals follow. Some double bass drumming and lots of guitar as well. "Rivivscence" kicks in around a minute but settles quickly as reserved vocals come in. It kicks in again as contrasts continue. Some atmosphere to end it as it blends into the short "Satur" piece. "Angle Lucifer" features drums and synths standing out as vocals come in and riffs come and go. It's building then it settles again as themes are repeated. "Burning Crosses" is another short atmospheric piece.

"Grains Of Sand" opens with synths then drums come in followed by guitar. Vocals are next. For the first time the guitar reminds me of older TIME MACHINE albums 4 minutes in. Spoken words end it. "Alhambra" is acoustic guitar melodies throughout. "Tears Of Jerusalem" has this Oriental sounding intro and outro. It then kicks in heavily with synths and riffa before settling right down with reserved vocals. It's building as the tempo and mood continue to change. "The Calling" opens with drums and guitar pounding away like a stampede. It settles after 2 1/2 minutes and synths wash in. Kicks back in and some ripping guitar follows. "Seeds Of Revolution" is a good heavy tune. "Revolution" opens with synths and beat before kicking in quickly. A calm later before that fuller sound returns.

Sure this is a well played album but the vocals don't do a lot for me or a lot of the compositions.

The fourth (and to date last) full-length album of Italian prog-metallers Time Machine continues the trilogy based on Valerio Evangelisti's book "Cherudek" that the band had started with their 2001's LP Evil. Released in 2004, Reviviscence also continues Time Machine's tradition of frequent personnel changes between albums. Of the line-up that had recorded Evil, only Lorenzo Dehò (bass) and Gianluca Ferro (guitars) remain. They are joined on the new record by drummer Luca Sigfrido Percich, guitarist Gianluca Galli and vocalist Marco Sivo, all coming from fairly unknown local metal bands. Reviviscence is also characterized by several guest spots, including solos by both Angra's guitarists Kiko Loureiro and Rafael Bittencourt, and a keyboard solo by Fabio Ribeiro (Shaman, Andre Matos).

Stylistically, Reviviscence can be described as a cross between Time Machine's masterpiece Eternity Ends from 1998 and their previous record Evil from 2001. Of the latter, the new LP retains the taste for a modern approach to progressive/power music, based on beefy, groovy guitar riffs, futuristic keyboard samples, and powerfully dark melodies that remind me of bands like Kamelot. But there are also echoes of Eternity Ends on Reviviscence, partly because Marco Sivo's voice has the same high-pitch tone and mellifluous timbre of Nick Fortarezza, who had sung on the 1998's album, and partly because of the Angra influences that were very prominent on Eternity Ends and return, albeit less conspicuously, on the new album.

This description may sound exciting, considering how Eternity Ends and Evil are both very strong records in their own way. Alas, despite its best intentions, Reviviscence is a fairly disappointing release, mostly because a lot of the material feels very much run of the mill and uninspired. Melodically, there are very few moments of this album that stand out, even after repeated listens, and the whole album flows away without making much of an impression. The material in the second-half of the record is somewhat stronger, also thanks to some inspired guitar playing and a touch of colour given by unusual instrumentation (the sitar on "Tears of Jerusalem") and samples (the George W Bush's speech at the end of "Grains of Sand"), but it really does not go beyond the average level.

Another weakness of this record is the quality of the line-up, which I think is somewhat inferior to those of the previous two records, at least in the vocal department (in a few places, Sivo's vocals come across as tentative and fairly generic) and the drumming. On the other hand, the band has gained something in terms of guitar firepower. Both Galli and Ferro are excellent guitarists and the album contains some interesting and exciting guitar playing and solos ("Grains of Sand", "Tears of Jerusalem", "Seeds of Revolution").

Unfortunately, the production is also a step-down compared to the band's previous two records. The album does sound really poor for something recorded and produced in 2004. It is loud and noisy, with a terrible guitar and drum sound and an unbalanced mix that puts the keyboards and samples all over the place and on top of the other instruments. This truly detracts from the listening experience, especially in songs where one can hardly tell apart what's being played as everything sounds like an indistinguishable mush (the choruses on the title-track and "Angel Lucifer").

Overall, Reviviscence is a mixed bag of fairly uninspired and badly produced material. There is some saving grace in the guitar work, especially in the solos, but it is too little to lift the album beyond the "so-so" level. It is a pity because Time Machine have been a really interesting and exciting band in the Italian and European progressive metal scene, and this is a rather unfortunate way to conclude their discography. We can only hope that Dehò may at some point in the future decide to revive his old band and conclude the Evangelisti's trilogy with a better album than this one. Until then, I think I will stick to Eternity Ends and Evil.