REMEMBER IT

Framepictures out of Portugal is the latest addition to the long line of progressively inclined artists that have issued their debut album in the last few years. And one more addition to the list of artists that opens their career as recording artists with a solid effort as well.

With an overall sound that brings German proggers Sylvan to mind, the most defining aspects of Framepictures overall sound are neo progressive rock and progressive metal, in this case with touches of power metal added to the sonic palette. The songs are dynamic creations with an emphasis on mood and melody, where the mellower passages take on a distinct Neo sound featuring floating keys of a symphonic nature over dampened guitars, while the metal motifs are more of a riff based nature, bass driven affairs crafted in an energetic, uplifting galloping style blended in with more typical sounding slower, majestic riff and keyboard cascades. Closing epic My Will to Live see the band expanding their palette somewhat, with darker quirkier arrangements closer to bands like Tool appearing in the second half.

Those who enjoy Neo and traditional progressive metal should be a key audience for this band, and fans of Sylvan in particular might want to find out more about this Portuguese ensemble.

Another Dream Theater?

Framepictures is a new Portugal based band that obviously has high aspirations for themselves in the progressive metal world. The music is high quality, as Galileo Records seems to promote greatly in their bands. The music itself is great, but there is one problem: their main influence is to blatantly obvious (Dream Theater). They sound like Dream Theater with Pagan's Mind's singer. Although criticizing anyone similar to Dream Theater is hard for me because I'm such a fan boy, yet another prog metal band wanting to be Dream Theater isn't exactly needed.

Memories Faded Away is a strong intro. Musicianship is great, but the vocal melodies are much too similar to Pagan's Mind for comfort. It scares me that the singer sounds like the singer from PM also, so it's a little uncanny. The riffs are similar to Dream Theater's Octavarium album also. The song is great, but it's not original.

Remember It, the title track, is a more melodic symphonic track. It is a little more original, venturing into the crossover region of prog. It doesn't rely as much on Dream Theater as much, but the symphonic section of the chorus is reminiscent of Octavarium again. I think I've pinpointed their favorite album. The musicianship, technicality, melody and everything else is great, but their influences are a little too prominent.

Call For Me kind of scares me. With the tracks before, at least there was some originality and their influence wasn't completely dominant. But with this, I swear they took the bass intro right out of Sea of Lies by Symphony X, and then took some of the guitar riffs. It's sad. Certainly there is *some* original work in the song, and the presentation is phenomenal, but it is just too similar to other band's work.

Don't Trust My Eyes is a nice melodic song that doesn't have as much prevalent and obvious influenced riffs. The melodies and rhythms are very nice. It probably the most original work on the album. It's creative, pretty, and is just an overall good song.

Why Nobody Cares is also a very original song, and probably the most fun you'll have while listening to the album. The chorus has a catchy riff, and the prevalent slap bass soling is a nice change of pace.

Shadows Black and Grey is a darker track, with a heavy wah-wahed intro, with some heavy powerchords. The ensuing riffage is nice, characteristic of most prog metal with so specific band in general. So far so good. The melodies are nice, the instrumental sections are good, overall, it's a good track.

My Will to Live, the epic last track, lasting for nearly 26 minutes, has some great qualities and some more a little too influenced qualities. The track is a good one, although it goes back to those Octavarium like riffs and synth sections. The musicianship, again, is great, and so are the rhythms. The tom-tom drum rhythms are very similar to Portnoy's but, they have their own original twist, so the track is still an original epic. When the vocals come in, it reminds me of Octavarium's riffs yet again. The dynamics don't change very often, so the track can get redundant, but when it does change, it's nice. Again we have some slap bass, which is a unique feature to FramePicture. One part of the song is almost identical to a large section of In the Name of God by Dream Theater, which scares me. However, overall My Will to Live is a good track, it just has some prominent similarities to a few Dream Theater songs.

ALBUM OVERALL: Remember It, overall, is a good album. If I had never heard of Dream Theater, it would be a 4 or 5 star album, but I have heard of Dream Theater, so some of the sections are a little uncanny in similarity, even the voices on the keyboards are near identical to Rudess' at some points. The presentation and musicianship are spectacular, especially if the band members can stand up to Dream Theater-like chops. My mentioning Dream Theater so many times may seem like overkill, but it really scares me how similar some of the passages are. To be influenced and have similar music *style* is one thing, it is a very different one to have near identical musical passages.

3(+) stars

There aren't that many progressive rock bands from Portugal and it has to be said that this one had a very unusual beginning. They were put together as a group of session musicians to provide the music for a well know pop star, but after rehearsing together for six months without an sign of the 'star' they decided that they may as well go their own way. Initially they planned to be an instrumental act, but after a while they decided that a singer was needed and with Tiago Delgado on board as the frontman they set to recording this their debut album which was released in 2010.

There is a really fresh feel to the music, and while they are obviously all masters at their instruments they don't force it, but rather go with the flow. For example, in "Call For Me" (second longest song on the album at 12 minutes plus) the focus is going to be on the drive and interplay of the keyboards, guitars and drums, but what makes it for me is the incredibly complex bass lines that are going on behind it all, adding that extra layer of musicality and adding to the melody without distracting from it. The band has been compared to Sylvan by some, and I would agree with that although there is more than a touch of Porcupine Tree, Fripp and even some Japan.

This is complex progressive rock music that is vibrant and somehow manages to maintain an intimacy and immediacy even though there is so much going on. It really does feel like a cool spring breeze, relaxing at times yet with a biting edge at others. And yes, they haven't shied away from the epic either with the stunning "My Will To Live" which closes the album at some 26 minutes ? there is some great guitarwork on this one. Well worth investigating.

Framepictures is for sure one of the most intresting prog bands I've ever come across from Portugal. They were formed around 2004 and so far they releasing one album in 2010 named Remember it. What they play is prog metal all the way with waving keyboards and nice guitar chops, they remind me a lot of Dream Theater, in their most glorious days, the '90s, so for me a good album even the originality lacks. I like this kind of prog metal, with long elaborated passages, nice shifting moods from mellower ones to more angry, they for sure know to handle the instruments. A good vocalist on top and Remember it is a winner release to my ears. Pieces like opening . Memories Faded Away, Call for me or the ending longest one clocking around 26 min are pure joy to listen, at least for me, great musicinaship, and very nice passages all over. So, 3 stars for this one , in places for sure 3.5 but no more then that, a good one from start to finish but far from masterpieces staus. Deefinetly I think worth investigated if you like this kind of prog. Nice art work.