SPECS OF PICTURES BURNT BEYOND

This has my vote for one of the best releases of 2006. Although there is a lot of heavy, complex and technical instrumentation here there is also lots of variety including tranquil passages and even a ballad ! The drummer i'm sure is out of his mind ! I was going to say his drum patterns are all over the place, but then I thought, what drum patterns? The lead and bass guitar players are twins, the Tipton brothers. And the singer who previously sang for the POWER OF OMENS is as diverse a singer as I have heard. One moment sounding like Geoff Tate and then hitting the high notes to a low sounding gothic voice. And then there are the lyrics that I don't usually pay a lot of attention to but I was blown away by the amazing words of some of these songs. And combining the emotional and meaningful lyrics with the powerful, complex music was truly humbling for me. As someone has said before "I am not worthy". Of note, there are no keys on this record which suits me fine. And in the liner notes they thank the lead guitarist for SUN CAGED, and also Meg (Prog-Maiden) which I thought was funny.They also drop a couple of F-bombs in thanking other people and end it all by thanking GOD for all his blessings. I love these guys.

"Face The Fear" opens with heavy guitar and odd metered drumming as the vocals slowly rise out of this soundscape from hell. It becomes tranquil 2 minutes in and he sounds like Tate, his vocals are incredible. Full speed ahead 5 minutes in with guitars blazing and drums pounding. Great tune ! "The Falcon's Cry" is such a special song and my favourite on the record.The lyrics are beyond words. It opens hard, heavy and complex all at the same time.The vocals range from gothic to rough to screaming.The song itself also changes from hard to light, fast to slow. Amazing.

"Embrace" is an instrumental with a vocal melody in the background.The guitar playing on this one is pretty cool. "Specs Of Pictures Burnt Beyond" opens with heavy, pounding drums as the guitar grinds it out and vocals scream.The song gets pastoral after 5 minutes with reserved vocals that are quickly blown away by some great solos from Jasun. "Zero Hour" is another instrumental of intricate guitar and drums throughout. "I Am Here" is a mellow song with gentle guitar and fragile vocals. Nice. "Evidence Of The Unseen" opens with heavy drums and vocals as the guitar slices in and out of the melody, this is contrasted to the softening guitars, drums and vocals 2 minutes in. Again the lyrics are incredible ! The song ends with the words "You are the evidence of the unseen".

I am definitely going to check out their album "The Towers Of Avarice" and the POWER OF OMENS records as well.