THE ART OF NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

Progressive metal is the genre I find myself least surprised by these days. Bands tend to nail the technicality pretty easily, but after that tend to be lacking in one of three areas; vocals, compositional memorability and/or lyrical sensibility.

Hence, I suppose, my utter surprise at the fact that Sieges Even nail all four of these areas in the best way possible on their 2005 release 'The Art of Navigating By The Stars', featuring for the first time the lead vocals of a rather talented young bloke by the name of Arno Menses. Perhaps it was this addition that gave this group the extra punch in order to go from great to a level of sonic ability that borders on the fantastic.

Still, Sieges Even have always had an interesting contrast within their music that sets them apart from the majority of progressive and non-progressive metal bands currently out there at the moment; an almost poppy sense of creating melodic lines with the instruments and vocals (like Yes or early Queensryche) juxtaposed against thrashy guitar riffs that explode out of nowhere when you least expect it, along with punchy drums and almost Chris Squire-like bass to give the whole set of songs a strong sense of rhythmic development, and this style is most clearly evident in kickstarting tracks such as "The Weight" and the oddly jazzy 'Lighthouse'. Still, there's not a weak track in the whole bunch here; the compositions remain strong and never fall into the traps of cheese or self-indulgence.

In all honesty, good progressive metal that stands out in any way at all is rare. For that alone, even if this album weren't executed at the level that it is, I'd still hand this baby 5 stars. As it is though, 'The Art of Navigating By The Stars' is the best melodic progressive metal album I've had the pleasure of listening to since Pain of Salvation's early 2000's material, and deserves any and all accolades that may be heaped upon it.

Interesting music in a genre that far too often simply isn't that interesting. 5 stars!