COMPLICATIONS - TRILOGY OF INTRICACY

Considering the abysmal effort of the band on its one and only album, Acceleration, I wasn't hoping for much from the follow up EP, Complications: Trilogy of Intricacy, and was expecting even less. So you can imagine my surprise on playing this EP and finding 3 songs of fairly high quality, certainly far ahead of where the ban had been only a year before hand.

The one real strength of the bands first album, Andy Winters excellent keyboard playing, remains intact for this album but the major areas of my discontent have been addressed. Namely, production is now top notch with a sharp, punchy sound from the drums and feeling of depth to the guitars, composition is far better than before, with memorable melodies being supplied in full and the singer, Lazare, is more tuneful than before, though he's no Daniel Gildenlow. I knew the band had it in them as they've proved it in Winds but this is the only recording from Age of Silence that demonstrates these abilities. Pick of the (small) bunch here is the opening track, The Idea of Independence and the Reason Why It's Austere (almost as much of a mouthful as a Red Sparrows song title), for it contains the above mentioned elements at their best. In the end, though, there is only 15 minutes of music and the uncomfortable resemblance to Winds remains strong so 3 stars.