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New Music Reviews, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Progressive Rock, Progressive Metal, AOR, Alternative Rock, Alternative Metal
27.07.14
- Unisonic: Light of Dawn
- Sunless Sky: Firebreather
- Johnny Touch: Inner City Wolves
- Knifeworld: The Unraveling
- Dreamside, The: Sorrow Bearing Tree
- Alestorm: Sunset on the Golden Age
20.07.14
- Red February: On The Run
- Rush: Presto (SACD)
- Heylel: Nebulae
- Derdian: Human Reset
- Grave Digger: Return of the Reaper
13.07.14
- Eye Jabs, The: Sounds of the Fourth Dimension
- Uncommon Evolution: Uncommon Evolution (EP)
- Crystal Eyes: Killer
- Forensick: The Prophecy
- AOR: L.A. Connection
- Yes: Heaven & Earth
- Van Burens, The: Presidential Lovefest (EP)
- Ichabod Krane: Day of Reckoning
- Reaper: An Atheist Monument
06.07.14
- Night By Night: NxN
- Steel Prophet: Omniscient
- Distorted Harmony: Chain Reaction
- Intelligent Music Project II: My Kind O' Lovin'
- Relapse Symphony, The: Shadows
- Bowness, Tim: Abandoned Dancehall Dreams
Ashent: Inheritance
Progressive Metal
3.5/5.0
With 2009's Deconstructive, Italian metal band Ashent attempted to break from European power metal mold with a more progressive sound. Largely, they succeeded, although it was sometimes uneven. This year's Inheritance builds upon that foundation as Ashent tries press farther into the realm of progressive metal.
Ashent: putting the big guy up front.
Again, generally, they have succeeded. Some of the success comes from a new lead vocalist, Titta Tani, who is a quite versatile singer and arranger. Additionally, Ashent have made their arrangements more technical, even complex, adding sequencers, synths, some sax inserts, orchestral parts, and choirs.
Sometimes, however, this attempt at invention and complexity blows back on them. Songs like Eve, Shipwrecked Affair, and Spider's Nest are so thick that it sounds like there are several songs overlapping one another in the same arrangement. Some of this may be due to the mix, but I doubt it. Conversely La Danzatrice Scalza has the complete opposite feeling. It's nearly perfect prog, interestingly, but not severely, technical, and simply delightful to the ears. Actually, Ashent seems to better when they're not trying to fill a song with a trick in their bag. Renaissance and the closing instrumental Labyrinthique are entertaining in their lack of complexity.
Yet, overall, Inheritance Inheritance continues to deepen the Ashent's exploration into more complex progressive metal, but sometimes with mixed results. Recommended.
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