COLORS

Going into Colors, I am a big goose egg (0). I heard the Parallax II and liked the music, but not the Cookie Monster (CM)/Death Metal Growls. I expect the result may be the same here. I believe it could be thought of as one song, but it is divided into 8 tracks with titles, so that's what I'm going with. The band has described the album as "Adult Contemporary Progressive Death Metal." Let's check it out.

Track 1 - Foam Born (A) The Backtrack

We begin with simple piano chords and melody. The vocals join in with it. Just before the 1-minute mark there is a drum fill and the band kicks in heavy, but not overly so. There is a keyboard solo in a Wakeman arpeggio style. Then there are spoken word vocals then merge into screamy vocals not quite CM, but close.

Track 2 - (B) The Decade of Statues

Cookie Monster (CM) starts out right away as the track clicks over. Extremely fast tempo. This is the type of metal I DON'T like. All growls and death metal so far here. The riff becomes more listenable at around 1:30 and clean vocals are close behind, but they don't last. CM is right back. So far, this track is God-Awful. Finally, at 3:45 clean jazzy guitars, but they didn't last long enough for me to type the sentence. There are some cool scapular patterns in the instruments, which I might like if they'd shut CM up. Horrid track.

Track 3 - Informal Gluttony

Things slow down a bit with a cymbal crash and tribal style drumming. We have a nice cool groove happening as the bass joins in. The guitars join playing an Arabic style tune. So far, so good. Even the metal riff is cool. But Angry CM comes back, and we start sounding like a CD on fast forward. We get a breather at around 2:50 but again it doesn't last. People listen to this on purpose. Why?? Things slow down again at around 5 minutes with some clean vocals and harmonies buried in the mix. We end with some cool drumming that leads us into?

Track 4 - The Sun of Nothing

Which begins with a drum fill. Then super-fast and aggressive growly stuff. Someone give him a throat lozenge! There is a change for clean strumming electric guitars at 2 minutes, but then right back into the heavy growling stuff. There is a quirky part at 3:30 but it only lasts a few seconds. Every time I think they are going to redeem themselves a bit, they go back to the death metal stuff. Things finally ease off at 6 minutes with clean guitars and clean harmony vocals. At 7 minutes it gets almost breezy sounding. At 8 minutes it gets mellow and quiet, then there is a nice crescendo into a "wave your lighter in the air" moment, then we get to a mid-tempo rockin' part. CM returns soon after though. There are a few minutes in the middle of that I enjoyed, but the rest of it was atrocious. It leads straight into?

Track 5 - Ants of the Sky

Aaaand we start right off with speed metal madness and CM growling. This is anxiety-inducing stuff. Everything drops out for some simple piano for a moment, then we have a 6-8 section that is slightly reminiscent of Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring," but it is over far too quickly. There is a bit of Hammond organ in some of the heavy riffage that follows. CM is back before long to scream at us some more. There is a bit of odd-meter riffage but it's still really heavy. Then we are back to more of the same death metal stuff. I expect there are mosh-pits at their shows. There is a respite from the chaos at around 6 minutes. But it returns soon enough. Every time I think there is a bit I'll enjoy, it's over before it really develops. There is a quieter part at around 8 minutes. But by 8:30 we are mega heavy again with growls. To be fair it's at a slower tempo with clean vocals along with the growls, but still? We mellow out again at around 10 minutes. This breather is lasting longer with a nicely played clean guitar solo at around 11 minutes. Then at around 11:50 we have a country hoedown, for no apparent reason. By 12:25 though, we have the Bach style melody return, but CM is growling/screaming all over it. There is some nice dual-lead guitar harmonies to close out the track, but the bad very much outweighed the good.

Track 6 - Prequel to the Sequel

Some mid-tempo power chords and guitar licks start this off; I like it so far, but I've been burned before. Trying to have cautious optimism. Here we go again, this is more scream-o at first, then CM growls. And it sounds like metal furniture being pushed down a stairwell. There was a brief moment of bass & drums I enjoyed, but then back to shit soon after. Random accordion section at around 5:30. Being screamed at again soon after. More CM in a duet with screaming. This is horrid again. A nice cinematic moment around 8 minutes. Will it last? It did long enough to bring us to?

Track 7 - Viridian

The second shortest track on the album begins in a mellow fashion. Gentle keyboards and clean guitar arpeggios are allowing my blood pressure to ease off. Nice bass solo along with it. A very jazzy track so far. It stays mellow, but turns more ominous as we approach the transition to the final track?

Track 8 - White Walls

The intro is pretty good so far. But surprise. More CM and speed metal stuff. Wow, this album is relentless. At around 3:10 he sounds like the Judoon in Dr. Who. (I think he did that trick in the other album as well). There are moments of tight Dream Theater style playing but it never lasts. There is a softer section with some beautiful harmonies at around 5:15. Things mellow out even more at around 6:20. By 7:20 I begin to hear the harsh vocals fading back in. By 8:05 we are heavy but with nice harmony vocals. But CM starts growling by 8:30. More mosh-pit music by 10-minutes. Things moderate a bit at around 11 minutes. It's still heavy as F, but at least no one is screaming or growling. There are some great guitar harmonies & solos happening for a while. We switch to a shuffle beat at around 13 minutes. Then we fade out on nice piano arpeggios.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS:

The moments I liked were few and far between. This one seems more of a straight up death metalcore/speed metal experience with an occasional prog moment thrown in. Most of it was very difficult to listen to. Even on the Opeth album I just did prior to this one, the growly bits were much more tolerable and fewer and farther between. The best moment on the album was the intro to track 3 "Informal Gluttony." They could have taken that to glorious places, but it went to Hell (again). I can't believe that THIS album ranks above so many amazing classic prog ones. This is supposedly better than Rush's "A Farewell to Kings," Camel's "Mirage," DT's "Awake," Yes' "Drama," (which was at freaking 100) and many, many more? I can't say I agree at all. [on Prog Magazine's 100 Greatest Prog Album's List]

I give this one a generous 1.5 out of 5 for the few bits I did like. (I'm sure there'll be some "OK Boomer's" from some who read this, but whatever?)

Clicking 1, probably what it should be anyway.