THE ART OF NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

"The Art of Navigating by the Stars" is the 6th full-length studio album by German progressive metal act Sieges Even. The album was released through InsideOut Records in September 2003. Sieges Even split-up after the release of "Uneven (1997)", so "The Art of Navigating by the Stars" is their first release in 6 years. The Holzwarth brothers Oliver (bass) and Alexander (drums) spend the time doing session work/touring with artists like Angra, Blind Guardian, and Rhapsody of Fire, but after reuniting with original Sieges Even guitarist Markus Steffen (who appeared on the first three albums by the band and left in 1992), and hiring new lead vocalist Arno Menses, a new band lineup was complete.

Stylistically the return of Steffen results in a sound which is closer in style to the mellow and thoughtful progressive metal of "A Sense of Change" (1991), than to the two succeeding energetic and bombastic jazz/fusion and funk influenced albums which didn´t feature Steffen. So in some ways "The Art of Navigating by the Stars" is a step back to some of the elements of their early 90s sound, but they´ve evolved too, and one of the features which has been scaled down is the use of distorted guitars. In fact most of the music on the album is more appropriately labelled progressive rock and not progressive metal. When the rare chugging distorted heavy metal guitar moment occur it´s actually the least interesting part of the music.

The music predominantly features non-distorted electric guitars, which are sophisticated in style, but still mellow and pleasent to listen to. The rhythm section are also more subtle playing than on the last couple of releases, and often have a light-jazzy/fusion touch to their delivery, although both bass and drums also play more harder edged and heavy parts. Use of unusual time signatures and the occasional complex instrumental part are still a part of the band´s music.Menses has a strong voice and a passionate delivery, and his vocal style is bit more "normal" than the preceding vocalists in the band. At times even leaning towards mid-range alternative rock vocal stylings. Choirs and vocal harmonies are often used.

After a short intro the remaining tracks on the album are part of one long thematically connected composition/lyrical concept. All tracks except the intro are titled "Sequence I-VIII)" and then a subtitle. The lyrics are philosophical in nature, but mostly a bit vague in terms of what they are actually about. Maybe a celebration of life/our world and how we deal with it as humans... There´s definitely a positivity flowing through the album though, and it´s not a dark and brooding listen, but instead an uplifting listening experience (with the occasionally more dark and melancholic moment).

"The Art of Navigating by the Stars" is a very well produced release. It´s interesting because the sound and production of the instruments and the vocals could easily have been featured on a harder edged metal album, but instead the metal production aesthetics are now heard on a predominantly much less heavy and more mellow sounding release. The sound is clear, powerful, and detailed, suiting the material perfectly. Upon conclusion this is a pretty unique sounding release. Probably not heavy enough for those coming to it from a heavy metal background, but maybe still too much rooted in progressive metal for the more regular progressive rock listener. Personally I find the songwriting lacking memorable hooks, and only a few tracks into the album, I´m starting to wonder if I´m still listening to the same song as the one I just heard (I´m aware the tracks are thematically connected, but there are still not enough hooks and variation between tracks). So compositionally I don´t think this is a perfect release, but it´s still very interesting because of how unique is sounds. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives)