LAVA ENGINE

Originally formed in 2006, this Swedish progressive band had already been through a few different line-ups by the time they self-released this their debut EP in 2008. At this time they were Magnus Florin (vocals & guitars), Ronnie Jaldemark (guitars & vocals), Christian Karlsson (drums) and Ian Varjanne (bass). Yep, although they originally had keyboards, this had changed by the time they came to record, although their progressive approach definitely hadn't: I think the lack of keys is probably why they have been tagged 'prog metal', but I believe that 'neo' is much closer to the mark. They have obviously been influenced by Porcupine Tree as well, and the quality of the four songs on offer (especially 'Blood', which is more than ten minutes long), would have had me believe that a lengthy career was on offer. However, it appears that another EP a few years after this one was all that would appear from these guys, and the website certainly hasn't been updated in a few years. A real shame, as this EP shows promise and I would very much have liked to have heard a full album. It is still possible to play tracks at www.lavaengine.net, which shows that they deserved more than just leaving behind two EP's.