A DREAM IN STATIC

A.k.a. what happens when you take four hungry metallists freshly graduated from music college, ready to rumble and tear up the progscene by taking some first-class metal riffs, combined with tasty orchestral arrangements being wildly orchestral enough to remind you of Burton's Batman movie scores, and invite a range of guest vocalists to be the cherry on top. You will get something which might make you want to re-consider what progressive music is. And the fact that this comes from four "rookies" (mind the speechmarks) having only their first album out, deserves five stars.

We are looking at a fairly complex album here over the sixty-minute-mark in length, which will not let you be bored. The first track (The closest I've come) throws you at the deep end right away with some tasty progressive rock riffs, cleverly setting the scene for the next song, being the album's first single also, Mob mentality. This song, which was scored out entirely by one of the band members to invite the Moscow Studio Symphony Orchestra on stage, shows you what I meant by "cinematic metal", and undeniably draws inspiration from some contemporary movie score composers such as Danny Elfman, as well as maybe even Metallica's S&M. Other songs to stand out would be the equally cinematic Entering the light (featuring a more than tasty progbit again right in the middle), and my personal favourite, "Contemplation of the beautiful", which could easily go along with any movie as score ? of course just until the powerful refrain blows up in your face like a ticking bomb. The rest of the song is then nothing but a wild rollercaster-ride between these two ends, closing the album just as beautiful and wicked as it gets.

With all this being kept together by some amazing mixing, Earthside achieves already with its first album what many bands never will. The only thing I need to bring up against the album is the fact that their reach with this musical complexity sometimes exceeds their grasp, however I am sure this is a mistake they will easily correct with their next album, taking this to a whole new level ? which is something to already look forward to.

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