Becoming The Archetype: Dichotomy
I’ve managed to acquire quite the reputation for having rather brutal tastes in music, something I enjoy and is actually quite true. I’ve been an ardent fan of Death Metal and Grindcore since the early days and I’m always on the lookout for new bands that break the mold in one way or another, and Becoming The Archetype initially wasn’t one of them. In 2005 they released their first album, Terminate Damnation, and it was good, but struck me as just another Metalcore fly by night group. I was however pleased with the Christian lyrics and a few songs exhibited a progressive leaning which did catch my interest. Their second album The Physics of Fire a concept album delved deeper into progressive territory, and I began to look at these guys as more than the fly-by-night Metalcore band, but rather as an up and coming Progressive Death Metal band, that was bold and intent on taking things down their own path. I waited with great anticipation for the Devin Townsend produced Dichotomy, this was the album that was going to make or break Becoming The Archetype for me, and I was ground to a pulp and spit out like a tree in a wood chipper. This album being one of the last of 2008 to be released, took any doubts, concerns, and expectations and set them on fire with a vengence. The first track Mountain of Souls features Devin Townsend and is a perfect album opener, a well constructed intro with plenty of synths mixed in fit together perfectly to set the mood of both the song and the album. The first minute or so makes it clear they’ve left behind the Metalcore ‘structure’ and rewrote the book. Textured Synths and Lead Guitar work nicely and fall smoothly into a piano solo that in my opinion is a perfect fit and brings down the mood and comes to rest with a well played clean guitar solo. We keep the momentum growing with the title track, a triplet based sound the song keeps us going nicely, mind you these guys are singing praises to God while flattening us with these punishing riffs. This track features a guest appearance by Ryan Clark of Demon Hunter, I’m not going to spoil it, you’ve just got to hear these guys work… Artificial Immortality, the third track doesn’t let you catch your breathe, it’s very melodic sound and lyrical theme of being a living breathing immortal being created by God compared to a robotic lifeless man made ‘cyborg’, for lack of a better term, showcases the growth these guys have made as musicians and Christians. Self Existent moves into deeper territory, one of the more aggressive tracks on the album, they don’t maintain any status quo with this track, throwing breaks of piano, synth and uplifting guitar breakdowns that work extremely well together. St Anne’s Lullaby is a beautiful acoustic guitar peice, extremely unexpected to say the least, but a great listen, we move on to Ransom and Evil Unseen, where these dudes feel like they’re out there to take on the best of the best and showcases death metal as it should be, brutal, unexpected and with purpose. All while giving the Lord his praise. Next we move to a surprise gem. Christians have become quite familiar with the Praise song, How Great Thou Art, but not like this.. This Praise and Worship classic starts off with an acoustic guitar, and moves quickly into the Becoming The Archetype MO focusing on the Praise element of the lyrics and makes you just wanna fall to your knees and headbang and praise until your head falls off.. This track comes complete with Lead Guitar, Blast Beats, the works.. I was extremely impressed with their rendition of this classic. I wish all Christians praised God this completely and thoroughly, Lord knows I need to.. Deep Heaven the next track Jeff Wisdom seems to set out to write his own Praising song and doesn’t fail in anyway shape or form. The intro gives me memories of Dream Theater and Neal Morse, but has that distinct sound that makes it their own. Few can construct a breakdown quite like BTA, and they showcase this skill well transitioning to a piano solo with female background vocals bringing in Dark Side of the Moon feel, then they move into a very interesting movement I can’t really find description for… very diverse and well written. The album closes out with End of the Age. This track is EPIC!! At 6 and a half minutes it’s the longest song on the album and they put some of their best songwriting to the test with this track. Lyrical themes of the End of Days and God’s final wrath leave a chill in your spine while the music almost invites the Apocalypse to being in your head… Only Becoming the Archetype can sing Hallelujah and put forth shear metal as this.
By far their most Progressive effort, and in my opinion one of the best metal albums to be released in several years, Dichotomy is a must have for any one with an ear for metal or progressive or christian music. I’ve always loved praise and worship metal, and this one just may knock Disciple’s By God out of the heaviest Praise and Worship albums. With the usage of Pianos, Synths, and Acoustic guitars perfectly placed within the pure death metal sound these guys throw out work together to satisfy.
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Opeth: Watershed
Some things just get better with age. Fine wine, good cheese, and Opeth. Opeth is mishmash of a little of everything mixed together with a good dose of death metal. Opeth is one of those bands that everyone can like, even those who hate death metal, love Opeth. Members of my church like them, my wife loves them, and there are several at work that enjoy the fine sound that is Opeth. With each release, they have broken tradition, innovated and improved leaps and bounds and Watershed is no exception. I have to admit, I was quite nervous when Martin Lopez left due to health problems, and I became terrified when Peter Lindgren left, so I was expectant of anything with this release, how was working with Fredrik Åkesson going to change the sound, and who’s this dorky lookin blonde haired guy… The thoughts were running wild. When Watershed hit the shelves I was waiting patiently and when I threw in in and gave it the first listen. I was floored to hear the opener Coil, with it’s Folk like 12 string acoustic and Mikael Åkerfeldt’s ever awesome clean singing, and I was further floored to hear a female take up the vocals, provided by Natalie Lorichs, who I believe is Martin Axenrot’s girlfriend, as this faded and then the discordant Heir Apparent exploded into my ears, a smile appeared on my face for the slower paced intro and perfectly mixed instruments were at their best. I love the brooding, eerie mood the song creates and the track creeps along as if to introduce us to the band members, and provide us with a bit of a sense of a jam session. I really dig the mood change with the outro of the song as well, but my nerves were still at odds, what’s the rest of this going to sound like, I’ve bought albums where the first song or first two were awesome, and everything else sucked. But I was soon to be set at peace. The ever carefree humming Åkerfeldt delivers again explodes into blast beats !! Blast beats with clean vocals, I was impressed, this song moves along quickly and is by far the most brutal on the album, The Lotus Eater set to ease any concern I had with the new members of the band. Åkerfeldt and company still manage to throw in some blues, and a real Emerson, Lake and Palmer meets Yes meets Dream Theater keyboard solo, another first for Opeth. Next we move into the mellow track, Burden, flexing their Progressive Rock muscles this song delivers that well, with well delivered keyboard work, and acoustic work to match. I must admit I am still a tad perplexed about the ever detuning guitar outro, but hey, they were probably bored and it ended up sounding pretty cool anyways. Next comes their first single, Porcelain Heart. A perfectly crafted track, does seem a bit aimed for possible radio play?? But I enjoyed the track, this is where we get familiar with Åkesson’s songwriting and unique, yet ethereal additions to the melody of this track. I really enjoy the breaks into the metal forays, this track is pure Progressive Metal with no corners cut. Hessian Peel is an odd track, it boasts some more acoustic work, though the backwards singing is a bit disturbing and out of place, in my opinion. This track rather abruptly jumps into a hyper keyboard sequence that reminds me of the Evening News or maybe an Emergency Broadcast statement before crashing into the aggressive Death Metal section. I will admit, the Death Metal section is the only part I really enjoy about this song, it’s by far one of my least favorite Opeth songs. Finally we end off the album with Hex Omega and this song is a great album finisher. It’s ethereal, brooding and beautiful all wrapped into one. That main verse riff they play on the guitar is beyond description and the outro, a fitting outro for a near Progressive Metal masterpiece.
Overall the album is a great album, it showcases the steady growth of the sound and system that is Opeth, it does have a bit of a rushed feel to it, but I am generally happy with the ideas Åkesson brings to the table, though I’m not sure if I care for Axenrot’s drums. Sorry man, Lopez left you with some big shoes to fill, nothing personal 
. I eagerly look forward to their next album, when they’ve had ample time to acquaint themselves as friends and band members and I know it will be something awesome.
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Emerson, Lake and Palmer: Tarkus
Everything has it’s defining moment and Progressive Rock is no exception. Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s Second album Tarkus released in 1971 contains what many consider the epic suite that perhaps gave birth to Progressive Rock, the title track, Tarkus. Sure there was King Crimson, Gentle Giant and Van der Graff Generator a few years before the release of this album, and these great bands set the stage, with fresh innovation and experimentation that we’ve come to expect with great Prog, but it was Tarkus that took all this and solidified them, mixed, smashed, and came crashing through like the Americans at Omaha Beach in 1944. Keith Emerson starts off this epic with Eruption, the explosive birth of Tarkus, half tank, half armadillo a machine of death and destruction and this movement sets the stage well, utilizing a 10 beat, quick paced, well layered pianos and Hammond Organs sewn together by the rock solid rhythm section of Greg Lake and Carl Palmer. Listening to Eruption and the smooth transistion into The Stones of Years movement, it’s extremely hard to believe this was recorded in 1971!! Moving into The Stones of Years we get a taste of Greg Lake’s vocals and smooth bass lines, interupted with improvised solos and fills by Keith Emerson. The abrupt change of mood into Iconoclast gives a sense of urgency with Keith Emerson improvising some Hammond organ soloing that teeters on the edge of collapse at any moment, but held together perfectly as we, again abruptly, are thrown into the bleak outlook on organized religion, Mass. Being a Christian, some of the imagery placed forth in the lyrics Greg Lake chooses are disturbing as this is the common concensus of most non-believers, but even more disturbing is, there are churches and believers who in fact fit the mold the lyrics mock. Musically we are introduced to the increasingly present Moog synthesizer layered over a Piano and intersperced with a smattering of Hammond solos and fills. The song seamlessly moves into it’s next movement, the Manticore, which offers some awesome improvisations from Keith Emerson, soon brings forth probably the most powerful excersize of Prog ever done, Battlefield. This movement offers what I consider Greg Lake’s best work as a lyricist and songwriter. The epic themes and moving lyrics, only add to this masterpiece perfectly, and he doesn’t stop there, he introduces Lead soloing years ahead of it’s time. Today we can say it’s remeniscent of Dave Gilmour, only things is, Dave Gilmour didn’t offer leads such as these til 1972, with Dark Side of the Moon and even closer in 1975 with Wish You Were Here. The passion this power trio puts into the final touches of this movement is indescribable. We finish the track out with Aquatarkus, which brings the Moog to the front of the themes established in Battlefield. Each pass over, each member offers more layering and improvisation, while remaining true to the overall sound as Tarkus disappears from the story, we are revisited with the final chapter of Eruption which takes us to an outro worthy of an epic of this strength and caliber. There have been few songs to come close to the shear innovation that is Tarkus, Dream Theater came close with A Change of Seasons, and Neal Morse makes a darn good attempt with The Door, but my opinion is this still reigns as the true King of Prog, and will likely always be as well.
After the overwhelming power that is Tarkus, it is easy to forget there are other songs on this album, while lambasted as cheesy or childish, the other tracks are fun, catchy and with the exception of The Only Way (Hymn) pleasant lyrically, I enjoy them, though they’re not as much Classic Prog as they are 70s Pop Rock. The final assesment is the showcase, Tarkus broke ground and established itself as the song that set the standard that all Progressive Rock will be measured by, and the 6 other tracks also showcase the diverse talents of three iconic performers.
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Neal Morse: Sola Scriptura
I honestly hadn’t heard of Neal Morse til Spring 2007 when I was at work and was listening to Camel’s Similar Artists on http://last.fm/. I happened to hear the last part of one of his songs, and made a mental note. As it turns out, Mr. Morse was actually pretty well known in the Progressive Rock circles. So I acquired a couple more of his items and this gem was one of them. I listened to the other album first and was pleasantly blown away, but when I put this one on, I was blown into microscopic droplets of mist!! Once every 30-40 years, comes one of those things that redefine the meaning of what it belongs, and the opening track, The Door, is just one of these things, much like Tarkus, that set the standard for what Progressive music should be, The Door delivers the same and updates the standard while remaining respectful to the foundation layed before. Perfectly orchestrated, Neal, Mike Portnoy and Randy George build up the sound with perfectly executed layers of keys, guitar, backed by a indestructable rhythm section, these 3 gentlemen display a virtuosity rarely seen this day and age. The song swings back and forth from intense guitar and keyboard interplay into mellow, passionate verses that open the story, based on the life of 16th century Reformist Martin Luther, yet paralleled with a modern flavor and to top it off, he compares scripture such as Proverbs 9 to both the 16th and 21st century context. The music delivers well, you don’t get bored or disinterested as it moves along, something impressive for a 29 minute song. There are many highlights, one of my more favorite being the electric violin solo about half way through the track, it’s performer makes his classical instrument shread like a 21st century lead guitar, with only the last few licks betraying the sound for the violin that it is. This track features a lead guitar solo from Mr Big/Racer X’s Paul Gilbert and is, in my opinion, one of the top 3 tracks of all time in Progressive music. This track alone gets a 10/10 rating.
Neal Morse and company could have done well with The Door alone as an album, but they topped it with The Conflict, which continues the story stepping into more internal conflict of Martin Luther, but also as well as Neal’s own conflicts with seeing hypocrisy in the institutions of faith today. While well composed and diverse, this track just doesn’t quite grab your attention the same as The Door, but a listener can only take so much awesomeness before it becomes fatal. The Conflict turns extremely mellow with Paul Gilbert offering us some Flamenco acoustic work that fits just right in the whole scheme of the story. As we become fully immersed into the album. The guys take a break so to speak and Neal gives us a heart felt song about the thing all Christ followers want, Heaven in My Heart. This track would be at home just as much on K-Love as it would on a Prog’s Greatest Hits album, by far one of the shorter songs Neal has offered since going solo.
After the relaxing Heaven in my Heart, the guys ramp things back up with The Conclusion. We start this one off with a bass solo and interplay between Neal and Randy George where they show off their music abilities quite well, then jumps seamlessly into the story. This song kinda wraps up and closes alot of the themes and interludes in The Door and does begin to feel like it carries on a little much. For me when this song comes on by random, I really do enjoy it, there is nothing lacking musically, but when listening to the entire album, it becomes easy to lost track of the feel. Overall, it’s a great track, and leaves no holes unfilled.
Overall, this album is a masterpiece in every way. And I can understand why this is the best selling album yet, offered by Neal Morse. I recommend this as a must have for anyone interested in Prog music, whether a casual listener to the seasoned proghead. My only real critisism of this album is the end of each song. It seems like they really get the power on to start with, but each of the songs, just kinda peeters out at the end, which works well for The Door, but may not fit as well in the other tracks.
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Orphaned Land: Mabool: The Story of the Three Sons of Seven
Orphaned Land Mabool: The Sons of Three of Seven
Few can evoke the array of emotion that Orphaned Land do, and even fewer do it as well and consistently as these guys do. The third offering delivers a powerful and diverse performance that has no equal in taking you on a journey from the beautiful to the gutteral brutality and everything in between. Mabool: The Story of the Three Sons of Seven is a concept album derived from the biblical telling of the great flood. The album begins with Birth of the Three (The Unification) which sets up the three sent to warn the world of their impending destruction. Each based from the worlds three major monothiestic religions, The snake, known as magic, for Judaism, The eagle, known as strength for Isalm, and the Lion it’s wisdom unmatched, the song proceeds to place each of these sons into their roles to be later fulfilled in the remainder of the story. Vocalist Kobi Farhi delivers a powerful and well delivered performance switching effortlessly from melodic singing to a crushing growl, timed perfectly. The next track takes us deeper into the vision the three are sent to deliver to their respective peoples and brings us chilling visions of the impending apocalypse soon coming. Ocean Land (The Revelation) definetly a polished track designed for promotion, this does little to downplay the flow of the album, again a well balanced song mixing clean melodic vocals, with the heavier growls, and thus we begin to taste the Middle Eastern influence more with this track. The album progresses deeper into the tale with The Kiss of Babylon (The Sins) a brooding track that introduces as to ourselves, ignorant to the please of the three. This track introduces the beautiful Shlomit Levi sharing a chant with singer Kobi Fahri over a perfectly executed metal riff that sets free the emotion a curious contrast of the brutal and heavy sound with the beautiful voice of Shlomit is signature to everything Orphaned Land has come to be known. This track fades out into a segue into the beautiful A’salk sung entirely by Shlomit Levi, as the second half she continues backed by a very Middle Eastern tune. This song is sung as a Yemenite lamentation and fits well here as it segues into Halo Dies (The Wrath of God) where vocalist Kobi Fahri introduces the song with a brooding statement, and, what has to be the heaviest song on the album begins the story progresses as the three’s warnings become more straight to the point warning of destruction at the hands of God, unless they repent immediately and this is followed into the next track A Call to Awake (The Quest). This track echoes of early Dream Theater and brings end to the warning to the people, as God see’s pure wickedness on the Earth and makes his plan to destroy the earth, but wait, there be one that remains faithful, and this takes us into the next track Building the Ark which is a masterpiece of Eastern melodies and almost gregorian vocal harmonies. Sung primarily in Latin, this track is one of the mellow tracks on the album, showcasing the guitarists grasp of melody and diverse influence. Norra el Norra (Entering the Ark) starts off with a brisk acoustic guitar with more eastern language singing, jumps into some good old fashioned progressive metal interrupted by another break by the beautiful voice of Shlomit Levi sung over a Bouzouki playing a traditional Mediterranean tune. The song continues with similar fashion until it segues into The Calm Before The Flood, an acoustic instrumental that begins peacefully, as a soundtrack to the storm as it slowly rolls in. The louder the winds become, the guitar switched from acoustic to a clean softly played electric guitar mirroring the same as the acoustic accompanied by a String Ensemble and interspersed with a lamenting female vocal. As the guitars fade the rain starts to fall, and falls with more intensity until the initial thunderclap segues into Mabool (The Flood) which will culminate together with everything we’ve been given thus far, from the String Ensemble to Progressive Metal to the pleasant vocals to the angry growls and everything. This song takes up the first half of the flood itself, the wrath of God the destruction of evil on the earth and follows into the second part of the flood saga The Storm Still Rages Inside both of these songs really are the same musically and act as a perfect climax to this album and it’s story, it’s music, it’s personnel and it’s spirit. The three as they await their final destruction pray to God to watch over the Ark, and proclaim the rage, the evil still rages within the hearts of mankind and always will. The final offering of this album, Rainbow (The Resurrection) is a short instrumental with soundscapes of calm waves washing upon a shore line signifying a new covenent with man, and a beautiful peace that, though for a short time, exists between God and his greatest creation.
Overall I was blown away by the sheer content and delivery of the songs on this album. The end of The Kiss of Babylon and A’salk evoke deep emotion and the songs emit a power rarely found in music of any genre. This is a Progressive music masterpiece in my opinion and is a must for anyone looking for something with a different flavor that cuts no corners in anyway.
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