IN KEEPING SECRETS OF SILENT EARTH - 3

I've tried to veer away from C&C until some consensus came about in regards to labeling their sound. The last I heard was punk meets prog. In Keeping Secrets from Silent Earth: 3, the group's second album, finds them, IMO, to be post metal core meets emo, with some pop and punk thrown in at times. There's still not much here that I would classify as progressive metal, save the band's penchant to keep producing themes based on singer/guitarist Claudio Sanchez's "Armory Wars" graphic novels.

The group does up their game on this album with more complex and, at times, technical playing, as well as improving their already stellar sense of melodicism. This helps to break up the monochromatic stance found of the group's debut album Second Stage. Sanchez is more assured as a vocalist, and like his sound alike "mentor" Geddy Lee, sounds better in the lower registers found on this album, and on this album's quieter higher registers, especially during the backing and response vocals.

The group plays fantastically, but still never takes those fantastic flights of musical fancy and soloing that makes prog metal so adventurous. Perhaps their next effort will see them shoot for the moon, musically as well as conceptually. Now, that would be something.