RETROSPECT

First of all, this is my first review on Progarchives, seeing as I am (relatively) very new to all of this. However, upon seeing on of my favorite discoveries of 2020 sitting at a meager 3 ratings, I thought it best to contribute to this discussion in a verbal manner.

This EP consists of rerecordings of three songs from the two full length AVIATIONS albums, the first two originating from their debut and the third from their latest full-length release to date. The production on the debut was quite muddy, an issue that these versions do not suffer from. Two Days did not need such an update, but this version is a drastically different take on that song so it's worthy of its place.

Nineties Nine Ties begins with one of the most rhythmically confusing riffs I've ever heard, grooving yet not following any sort of obvious pattern. To my ear this band is like a punkier TESSERACT with some added piano, and I love it. Great track, however it does not stick in my head. Somehow, this works for this song, it's like I get to reexperience it with every listen.

Outliers is the perfect Prog Metal song in my not-so-humble opinion. The original version is slightly different, particularly at the end where a spoken word sample has now been excluded. This version blew my mind when I first heard it and it is without a doubt a journey.

Two Days is a really nice song and this is a fantastic version. It works well in this laid back acoustic version. I wouldn't have guessed it was live if I hadn't seen the tracklist posted here.

The instrumental versions aren't necessary but they fill out the runtime if nothing else. If nothing else, listen to the song Outliers. This work earns 5 out of 5 stars for that song alone. For such a small group, their music is well written, very well produced, and accessible to fans of DREAM THEATER or similar bands. They have described themselves as "cozy metal," and I find that description quite apt.