Style: progressive metal, power metal (clean, female vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Pagan’s Mind, Evergrey, Symphony X, Anubis Gate
Review by: Sam
Country: Oregon, United States
Release date: 15 June 2018
[EDITOR’S NOTE: This review was originally published in the June 2018 issue of The Progressive Subway, before we even had a website!]
Remember how I said that prog power has majorly disappointed me so far this year on Fantasy Opus? Well, not anymore! …sort of …almost. Because this is a fantastic prog power release! …sort of …almost …not really. It’s really close though!
Let’s first talk of the good. The performance is that of a 2000s prog power band at their peak. The band plays with a high level of cohesion and don’t take any measures to hide their technical prowess. The guitarist shreds whenever the song allows him to (he does so very tastefully!) and lays down heavy riff after heavy riff, the drummer constantly keeps himself busy squeezing in as many notes as he can, synths are rich and bombastic and lead singer Michelle Mattair is constantly showing off her range and abilities. All this overflowing playing ability makes sure every song has something epic going for it.
However, all this grandeur is also the album’s downfall. Tyranny of Hours constantly barrage you with riffs and notes and grand synths and soaring vocals that after a few songs you can’t tell the forest for the trees anymore. What also doesn’t help is that the songs all seem to follow a similar build up that by the third song you almost exactly know what’s coming next. Especially the choruses tend to be eerie similar. Another area where this problem shows up is in the riffs, who tend to sound like an endless stream of personalityless chugging due to the large emphasis on heavyness in the production. Even the mellow sections tend to sound overbearing after a while due to the drummer constantly filling up the space with notes. It’s not that any of it sounds bad, it just sounds the same.
So overall this album is …great? The instrumental performance is stellar and the production is excellent. However, it’s consistent to a fault as the songs all follow a similar path. This band has a huge amount of potential, but they’ll need to work on giving their songs more distinct personalities in order to truly fulfill their promise as a band. If they manage to shore up this problem I can easily see them releasing a true prog power classic. Definitely a band to watch out for in the coming years.
Recommended tracks: bruh it’s been so long I listened to this album and I’m just archiving shit now idk maybe the long one?
You may also like: Daydream XI, Pathosray, Kaisers Bart
Final verdict: 7/10
Related links: Spotify | Official website | Facebook | Twitter | Metal-Archives page
Label: Independent
Tyranny of Hours is:
– Michelle Mattair (vocals)
– Matt Galligan (guitars)
– Don Graham (guitars, bass)
– Alex McDonald (drums)
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