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Back in the end of '80s we were striving to find bands from
strange, exotic and distant places.
But nowadays, the advances in music
industry and market, as well as the
proliferation of network technologies
have brought the whole world very
close. This is the first time I meet
a band from Tasmania (for those who
were absent in the geography lessons
it's near Australia in the Oceania
continent). This four piece band,
that were formed in 2002, when they
were brought together by a common
friend of theirs, has delivered an
exceptional debut release of intensive
and intelligent at the same time progressive
rock. Based on the formula of Porcupine
Tree, they could be positively assessed
by friends of Spock's Beard, Opeth
(especially those who appreciated
"Damnation") and Siege's
Even. Very often they cross the lines
and approach the metal area in a fashion
similar to Dream Theater's, without
however the huge "solo-scapes"
of the latest. But do they have their
own identity? I would say yes and
believe me this conclusion was derived
very easily. Nick Storr's voice is
very warm and earthy and this is reflected
on the sensitive side of the band.
Given the fact that this is very hard
to find sometimes, this is a feature
that the band can be proud of. The
other guys contribute to this with
their polyphonic back vocals, giving
a deeper dimension to songs like "Back
Home", while in songs like "Digital
Sunrise" and "Fingerprints
(Reprise)" show their skills
in a quite heavy way. Now if you are
prog-freaks and you want some instrumental
parts of virtuosity exhibition, then
you can have your presents too, like
"Tungsten Blues".
The band needs to
do some homework to improve some -minor
to me- drawbacks, especially in the
songwriting area, if they want to
keep the interest of the audience
for the whole duration of the album.
In overall, this is a very promising
debut from an unexpected band. But
that's the beauty of dealing with
underground bands, isn't it? From
this day on you have another reason
to remember Tasmania, except from
the cartoon hero Tasmanian Devil.
:-)
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