THE ALLEGORY OF LIGHT

This disc recieved my nod for "Album of the Year - 2003." Mostly instrumental, it has that quality of Darkness (Heavy) and Light (subtle) that holds a listeners attention and makes you WANT to listen. The vocals, though weak, are expressive and don't taint the overall picture of the music.

Syzygy started out as Witsend in 1993 and released Cosmos and Chaos, an equal in quality performance, but had to change the name after someone else nabbed it up prior to their copywriting the name. Unfortunate, but I personally like the name Syzygy better.

M.O.T.H. (Master of the House) starts off with some stunning keyboard work remeniscient of ELP, very bombastic. It slows to the acoustic lines which support some spiritual lyrics, uplifting and sung with reverance. The tunes surges with the ebb and flow of power and grace. Beggar's Tale and Forbidden, the other two tracks featuring vocals, are small bits of folkish couterpoints to the largely energetic soloing throughout the other pieces.

The epic instrumental's: Industryopolis, Journey to Myrrdin and Zinjanthropus occassionally get very heavy when guitarist Carl Baldasarre unleases Petrucci-like leads that shake the house, but he follows through with acoustic panache to off-set the hard edges. Keyboardist Sam Guinta varies his styles and textures to create a cornucopia of influences and he too, keeps you guessing about what is coming around the next turn. Drummer Paul Mihacevich plays old school Carl Palmer, heavy on the snare, style drums.

Symphonic? Yes. Prog-Metal, close (at times) and may even be enjoyed by metal fans. Powerhouse? You bet.