FOOD FOR THOUGHT SUBSTITUTE

Food For Thought Substitute is the debut studio album from Canadian progressive metal act Heaven´s Cry. I read about Heaven´s Cry in magazines in the nineties but never got around to listen to their music which is such a shame because this is a great band with an original style. I´ve heard a lot of progressive metal since the early nineties and sadly most bands sound very much alike. They sound either like bad ( or occasionally good) imitations of Dream Theater or power metal influenced clones. It´s very seldom that you hear anything original in this genre but I do get surprised once in a while which is my whole reason for still listening to progressive metal because quite frankly I´ve lost faith in the genre more than once because of the hordes of generic acts out there. They are usually well playing and well produced but that´s about it. No soul or willingness to experiment.

Heaven´s Cry is just the opposite of that above description. They are very willing to experiment and they have their own sound even though there are lots of recognisable elements from the progressive metal genre. I don´t expect revolutions, just a personal sound and that´s exactly what Heaven´s Cry has got.

The music is pretty eclectic in nature and draws influences from many different genres like metal, jazz, hard rock and prog rock which are all blended into a personal sound. The mood ranges from dark and angry to beautiful and melancholic. A band like Psychotic Waltz does come to mind as well as a band like Extreme and an occasional nod to Alice in Chains. But as I stated above Heaven´s Cry have their own style and the above mentioned influences are only hinted at.

According to the lineup there are three guitarists and the music is very guitar driven with lots of great guitar riffs complimenting each other. There are lots of underlaying keyboards and synths in the music but it´s not a dominant part of the music. This is where I´m reminded of Psychotic Waltz. I´m not sure who sings the lead vocals but they are really good and adds a lot to the music. As one of the other reviewers MikeEnRegalia ( the only one at this time) stated the bass has a life of it´s own on the album instead of merely following the guitars. This means that you got three guitars, one bass, an extremely accomplished drummer, keyboards and synths and a singer who all competes for a spot in the spotlight. This could be a potential disaster but ends up being a controlled, unique and beautiful union.

The structure of the compositions is generally pretty complex with lots of different parts but still with a coherent idea which is something I value greatly. I don´t like music that is technical for the sake of it. There are so many great songs on the album like the powerful, dark and angry opener Your God´s Crime, the jazzy Out of Me and the progressive The Horde. There is even an ambient synth driven track called Passage which serves as a mood enhancer. The bottom line is that all songs are excellent, original and unique.

The musicianship is oustanding throughout the album. Challenging parts played with ease and lots of innovative play with chords and notes. I´m impressed by the technical level of this music. This is not tech metal but it´s still extremely well played.

The production is good. There are some strange choices like the snare drum which is pretty high in the mix but overall it´s a great production. The album has been remastered and you can purchase the remastered version from the official website.

This is without a doubt one of the best surprises from the progressive metal genre I´ve had in years and I can´t wait to get a hold of the second album from Heaven´s Cry called Primal Power Addiction to see if that one is as impressive as Food For Thought Substitute. I strongly urge you to get a hold of Food For Thought Substitute if you like your progressive metal a bit out of the ordinary because this is an excellent album. I´ll rate this with 4 stars but it´s so good that I might have to re-evaluate my rating sometime in the future. I have to see if it stands the test of time before that will happen though. For now it´s highly recommendable.