A SOCIAL GRACE

I have no idea why this is in this sub-genre, but I'll roll with it anyway. I do like this album. It's not that technical, and it's not that heavy, but it has some kind of weirdness about it that I really kinda dig. Psychotic Waltz came to my attention through recommendation of one of my metalhead friends after I told him I like progressive metal. I bought this album in confidence and in trust of him, and I wasn't disappointed. Every song is consistent (one thing I love about prog metal is that is a very common factor amongst albums) and it is enjoyable from the very first track through till track 13 and although there are a few weak ones, they are not THAT weak and are excusable.

My personal favourites off of A Social Grace are the opener, Successor, Psychotic Waltz and Spiral Tower. And The Devil Cried... is probably the most technical off the album, and it has some great melodic passages and drumwork. The guitar sound on this track is exceptionally crunchy, which I love, and provides... well, the power, and this is a very powerful song, although not that heavy. Successor is a soaring song that really shows off the band's vocal work very well and the opener is quite hard to keep up with. I especially like the cross phasing work embedded in the production of the instruments. The track Psychotic Waltz is intriguing, as I'm guessing it is the song that christened the band (please correct me if I am wrong) and through this, I am also guessing it is a favourite of the band's. It is a ballad number, and a very sweet and powerful one at that. This is in fact the only track that I ever play nowadays, so the lasting effect of it is evident. Finally, Spiral Tower is probably the most surreal of the bunch. It is also one of the slowest and the speed can get a little frustrating for me at times, but I'm used to it now and compositionally it is one of the best I've heard. Very cohesive, doesn't get very up itself (yet still rather operatic) and the delivery is superb also.

The other tracks are very good metal, but as you can probably see, they don't quite match up to the four I've mentioned in my opinion. As I said before, I don't exactly agree with where it is placed on the Archives, but that's beyond my power so I'll just say this: if you are interested in prog metal but don't want all the bombast you will recieve with such bands as Dream Theater and Atheist, this is the album for you. If you are not but want something with more bite, either head for this album or maybe something out of the Heavy Prog section. If you are already into Prog Metal and don't have this album, then buy it and get ready for something a little apart from the norm. Not a masterpiece, and not excellent either, but a good addition nonetheless. If I could award it a 3.5 I would, but I can't so 3 stars it is.