ICE CYCLES

Platypus is an american band who is I think the least known band where are DT members involved. This is their second album from 2000 named Ice Cycles. To tell you the truth this was quite dissapointing when I've heared this album first time, 4 years ago. While the line up is top notch, Myung on bass from Dream Theater, Ty Tabor on vocals and guitar from King's X, Derek Sherinian keys and on drums the excellent Rod Morgenstein from Dixie Dregs fame, so solid and intristing line up. It ws very intristing to me to discover that they don't sound like DT, Dixie Dregs od DS solo albums or Planet X, but is close to what King's X does for some years now, and I think Tabor is responsable for this sound and the path the pieces took on this album. Well, the album is not entirely bad, but, the first 5 tracks sounds to me like post grundge and alternative music, without any trace of progressive metal as is said in the description of the band, I don't hear at all any Derek Sherinian crunchy key works here, or the excellent bass lines that made Myung famous on DT, is more close to what Alice in Chains or Soundgarden, or even King's X to some point did 15 years ago, so not entirely bad, but I was expecting something elese, more complex or more up tempo music with nice arrangement. From piece 6 named 25, I beggin to talk about a serious improvement here, is like I'm listning to a lot diffrent album, but surprise is the same Ice cycles from the first note. From here, from track called 25 I can talk about progressive metal, the piece like the rest that will come are more complex, more tight, not the same alternative sound here, in places sounds like some parts from Derek Sherinian solo albums, lush keys and solid musicianship overall. The Yoko parts are quite intristing and realy pleasent as a whole, here the musicians deserve the name of masters as we know them from their mother bands, sometimes the passages remind me of OSI (another band or project of a famous keybordist who was in DT). So overall a not so intristing album but not realy bad either, but this is not the music I want to hear very often, even they are labeled as progressive metal, they not realy close to my taste. I will be quite drastic on this album, the musicians are ok, but the pieces are not so well developed to became more then a couple of spins album.2.5 stars, fans only.