DARK MILLENIUM

Many people have argued that this should not come under the name of Psychotic Waltz, as it is just a result of co-operation of the band's two guitarists. I would not agree with that. Although it is not a 'team' effort, and does not sound as any of their studio releases, it still has this 'dark' feeling that P.Waltz used to produce in their albums.

The first part comprises of Brian McAlpine's PENETRALIA, an instrumental 'soundtrack'. Although it has a unique 'dark' sound and some very good moments, it fails to impress. This is mainly due to the fact that there are not many changes of rhythms and the tracks follow a certain slow vibe...

This does not happen in the next two tracks, where the joining forces of Dan Rock and Brian McAlpine remind some of the glory of Psychotic Waltz. Atmospheric tracks with great melodies and amazing guitar work at some points. These two tracks appear also in Dan Rock's DARKSTAR, a band that every P.Waltz needs to check.

The live tracks included in the album are from the band's first era and although the sound is quite bad, their technical abilities and weird composing material is breathtaking. As for the (excellent and unique) covers they selected to include in this compilation, one thing can be said: They continue to prove that they have been pioneers and one of the weirdest bands in progressive metal. Diary of a Madman is Ozzy's strangest song, and the same happens with Black Sabbath's Disturbing the Priest!!!

Overall, an interesting compilation, quite different from a best-of or anything close to that.

Note: This may be an excellent album for P.Waltz fans (like me), but not that interesting for the rest...Thus, 3 stars is the 'fairest' choice...But it's worth giving it a try!!!

Dark Millenium is a post/ archives release from US progressive metal act Psychotic Waltz. I´ve recently reviewed another archive release from the band called Live & Archives (1998) which I found was solely a fan item. Very interesting for me as a fan but not recommendable for anyone just partially interested in the band. Dark Millenium is a notch more interesting and even though this album is also mostly a fan release it does have some songs that could be interesting for the more casual fan/ listener.

The first six songs on the album are all in the vein of keyboard soundtrack music. Very classical music influenced. Sadness is the only song with drums and some melodic guitars. I´m not very impressed by those songs but then again I´m not annoyed either. Very average though. The most exciting part of Dark Millenium for me starts with track number seven called Pleasures of the Flesh and the two following songs Flight to Nowhere and The Dream, the latter two are also featured on the second Darkstar ( Dan Rock project) album Heart of Darkness (1999). I haven´t heard that album yet so I don´t know if those two songs appear in different versions here. All three songs are great instrumental songs with lots of tasty melodic guitars and spacy keyboard sounds. Very Darkstar like. This first part of the album cannot be said to be a band performance as only the two guitarists Brian McAlpine and Dan Rock are credited as performers on those songs. The first seven songs are created by Brian McAlpine and is a concept called PENETRALIA, a soundtrack for reaching the higher spheres into narcotic dances ( Typical weird title). Flight to Nowhere and The Dream are credited to both Dan Rock and Brian McAlpine.

The second part of the album is a band effort and it starts with a studio cover version of Black Sabbath´s Disturbing the Priest. A really enjoyable cover song that one. The three next songs are live versions of Nothing, And the Devil Cried and In this Place ( all from the debut album A Social Grace) recorded on the 20th of May 1991 at the Dynamo festival in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. The songs have bootleg sound quality which is not very impressive when you remember that Dark Millenium is an official release. There´s nothing wrong with the performance though. Powerful and skilled performance. The next three songs are cover versions of In the Flesh ( Pink Floyd), Disturbing the Priest ( Black Sabbath) and Diary of a Madman( Ozzy Osbourne) recorded live in the summer of 1990. Again the performance is great but the sound is bootleg quality. The album ends with a short interview clip with Mike Clift ( I´m not sure who he is?).

Dark Millenium is as I mentioned in the beginning of the review mostly a fan release and maybe I should only rate it 2 stars but I do feel that it could have some value for the casual listener and I think a 2 star rating will give the wrong impression so my final rating will be 3 stars. I would get the four studio albums before this one though.