11:59:59

"11:59:59" is the 2nd full-length studio album by US, New Jersey based progressive metal act Alchemy X. The album was released through Unisound Records in July 2003. Information about Alchemy X are rather sparse, but the band apparently formed around 1999 and released "A Delicate Balance (1999)" and 4 years later "11:59:59" followed. As of now (May 2015), they haven´t released anything since.

The music on "11:59:59" is progressive metal and pretty much continue where the music on "A Delicate Balance (1999)" left off. That means pretty standard nineties progressive metal influenced at various points by artists like Dream Theater, Fates Warning and Symphony X. The instrumental musicianship is decent and lead vocalist Bob Mitchell, who has taken over the vocal duties from Martin Morin since the release of the debut album, does a decent job too. The sound production is a bit of an issue, which was also an issue I had with the debut album, so it´s a bit disappointing that Alchemy X have not done something about it for this release. If anything the sound production is even weaker on "11:59:59" than was the case on "A Delicate Balance (1999)".

Unfortunately the songwriting has not improved either, and again we´re treated to some rather generic sounding progressive metal that desperately seems to scream for something original or memorable for the listener to hold on to. Like the case was with "A Delicate Balance (1999)", this album isn´t completely bad or anything like that, but it´s just very standard quality material and a 3 star (60%) rating is fair.

One of the unknown prog metal acts from late '90s - early '00s from USA is for sure Alchemy X. Formed around 1995 having two albums in their pockets so far, one released in 1999 and the second and their best is from 2003 with an intresting title name 11:59:59. This is quite good prog metal, that I like to hear often, nice arrangements, pleasent voice, guitar meeting keyboards are well played most of the time. Similarity with Fates Warning are obvious, this is nice clean prog metal without any powermetal elements added. Virtuosity is present on every piece , I like a lot the guitar chops, theare some intresting arrangements, as example A Kiss Before Dying. The vocal parts provided by the new focalist here - Bob Mitchell done a good job. All in all , while is far from masterpiece status, I think desearve some spins from time to time from prog metal listners. I like it, totaly gone under the radar of prog metal collectors. 3.5 stars for sure. For fans of Fates Warning, Power of Omens, Silent Lucidity, etc even Symphony X might be a reference.