It's
true when they say that all great
things come into small packages. Firm
proof, this CD I'm holding that came
totally out of the blue. A somewhat
newborn label called Ulterium records
is endorsing the debut cd "Calling
the Earth to Witness" of this
Swedish act and up to this point things
seemed pretty small, maybe promising,
but definitely a usual run of the
mill. That was the first thing that
crossed my mind, judging by the cover
that betrayed right away their musical
style, and the fact that I hadn't
heard before of Ulterium Records or
Darkwater, despite being consisted
of Harmony's line-up by its 4/5's.
Fortunately, things turned out quite
differently. It didn't take me more
than one spin to realize that Ulterium
has struck a rich seam of "progressive
metal" gold with this release.
"Calling the
Earth to Witness" places Darkwater
among the elite of modern prog metal
bands and among my top 10 choices
for 2007 to date. An exceptional example
of how melodic progressive metal should
be played. A majestic journey to the
misty, melancholic and even mellow
side of complexity, plated with a
great deal of crunchy and sharp riffs.
Inclining clearly, and mainly, towards
Dream Theater and the somehow tranquil
side of Symphony X, with one or two
Conception-like passages, especially
on the magnificent "The Play
- II", they are delivering a
progressive metal opus that will definitely
make your mouths form a big "O"
in surprise after a couple of listenings.
The rock-solid musicianship, the well-constructed
compositions, the mesmerizing ambient
atmosphere keyboard-wise and the crystal-clear
production are some of their main
assets, not to mention the overwhelming
voice of Henrik Båth and his
ability to transform words into feelings.
As far as I'm concerned his voice
is the perfect blend of James La brie's
melody and Roy Khan's vigor. Hard
to choose among these 8 (excluding
the intro) masterpieces, but my favorites
here are "All I Eyes on Me",
"Again", "The Play
- II" and "Tallest Tree".
The strange thing
with "Calling the Earth to Witness"
is that the more I listened to it
in order to spot its weak points,
the more invisible they became. Despite
the lack of originality in some cases,
which prevents me from characterizing
it a monument, I dare to foresee that
this is the foundation stone of a
progressive metal temple that's
about to be raised.
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