Style: power metal, prog metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Avantasia, Symphony X, Ayreon, Kamelot
Review by: Andy
Country: Belgium
Release date: 22 June 2023
I love prog metal, and I also love complaining. That makes me an ideal music critic. Recently, I got to complain a lot about Max Enix–a hack masquerading as a prog metal composer–and his stupid, awful two-hour-and-forty-minute-long album replete with dozens of guest vocalists who he couldn’t even properly utilize. So when Chris told me to pick up the two hour long new album of Belgian prog metal band Entering Polaris, I figured he must have been confused when he read my Enix review because a prog metal band with lots of guests and–worst of all–a runtime over the two hour mark was NOT actually what I wanted to claim. But I did, and I’m happy to say that Entering Polaris actually write recognizably good music! However, a glaring problem quickly surfaced while undertaking this behemoth album… I realized it’s not one, but two albums released concurrently–in completely different styles. Not only that, but the band have two more coming out together later this year in two additional styles. Atlantean Shores, the first album of this disconnected tetralogy, unfurls itself as a traditional prog metal album, gently kissed by the likes of heavy metal and power metal, but does it instill hope in me for my next several reviews?
Power/prog has a storied history that infiltrates every aspect of Atlantean Shores: Ayreon and Avantasia are good stepping stones to understanding Entering Polaris’ sound here–all three are bombastic power/prog metal with full casts of talented singers. Opener and best track, “Forever,” for instance, sounds like classic Avantasia with the guitar harmonizing and key changed final chorus being straight off of a Metal Opera. Other tracks like “The Tempest and the Sea” or “Distant Horizons” sound much more like more modern iterations of Avantasia, full of proggy transitions and outstandingly strong vocals.
Throughout their tour of the scene, Entering Polaris often don’t stick the landing, but not from lack of trying. “Sands of Time” sounds a bit like Scardust–except Scardust did Sands of Time much better. The synthesized flute in the song, in particular, gets on my nerves. On the rest of Atlantean Shores and just like typical power/prog fare, the lyrics are ignorable at their best and painfully cheesy at their worst. The capital culprit is “Do Raindrops Aspire to Be Oceans?” which uses a soprano and Roy Khan’s (Kamelot) legendary vocals to try and push its message; however, despite the vocal talent, the song is crushed by the penmanship. Not totally avoiding the woes, the classic prog metal epic “Six Directions of Space” uses a record skipping sound effect to repeat “over and over and over again” at its resolution. It’s cheesy enough to make my lactose intolerant ass throw up like I did in my most recent 10k.
The epic, though, emphasizes the pros and the cons of the album well. From growling bass to soaring, power metal vocals, “Six Directions of Space” is a hearty tune that works its way through a lot of moods. The track slightly loses the plot a bit during its excessive length, but it’s such a fun nod to the days of classic power/prog full of wondrously long songs that I hardly care, and while many prog metal epics seem phoned in as if the artist feels forced to include one, Entering Polaris ooze a passion that makes the mistakes easily overlookable.
Atlantean Shores has plenty to love in it–too much. Seventy minutes of music is a lot, especially considering that it’s the first of four albums the band will release this year and one of two from the same day. A strong fifty minute album is choked here, but that’s it frankly. I think moving “Distant Horizons” in front of “Six Directions of Space” and then concluding the album would be for the best, but alas. For such a long album to slowly unravel is frustrating, especially after such a promising beginning. Moreover, the songwriting is heavily propped up by the strength of the guest vocalists, as well as the guitarists who really inject a great deal of energy in addition to the excellent tones in most of the harmonies.
While I stand by my complaints, I am definitely surprised by how good Atlantean Shores is for a group who seek to be musical chameleons–let’s hope the acoustic album, modern prog metal album, and piano album are anywhere close to as good as this–but it’s certainly a far cry from perfect. While I would enjoy hearing Entering Polaris continue to refine this style, they won’t be, instead leaving me with a fully acoustic album next. Catch y’all on the flippity-flip.
Recommended tracks: Forever, The Tempest and the Sea, Six Directions of Space
You may also like: Anubis Gate, Scardust, Tangerine Circus, Tanagra, Ostura
Final verdict: 6/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives Page
Label: Freya Records
Entering Polaris is:
– Tom Tas (guitars)
– Vincent Van Kerckhove (drums)
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