EXCAVATIONS OF THE MIND

This may be everything that's right with progressive music.

I found them actually from ProgArchives, and i was interested, so I bought the album. When I first listened, I was in near shock. DEEP CHASM comes out with a cool jazzy polyrhythmic layered riff and breaks into some jazz metal piano riffs. It then breaks off on an epic prog metal tangent, before coming back to jazz, then back to metal, and then breaking to some nice hard 70's esque rock. Part II comes off with some nice bass + acoustic work. The main music style reminds of a combination of YES and KING CRIMSON. A nice jazz inspired solo section is found in the middle. Part III is a piano interlude coming after the beautiful orchestrated musical piece on part II. IV goes back to that YES and CRIMSON sound. It ends the epic piece quite nicely.

THE GREY LEGEND blasts off with a catchy and hard acoustic riff before going straight into some heavy stuff that's just brilliant. Solo sections and instrumental interludes dot the great song like no one's business. Catchy riffs make the piece that much more enjoyable to listen to.

RUSSIAN WISDOM is a short (for the album) track with some catchy riffs very heavily influenced by 70s rock. Nice melodies and rhythms make it a great track.

The eponymous EXCAVATIONS OF THE MIND sort of ends the album (I consider GYROCOPTER more of a fun bonus) with some nice influences like OPETH (their more melodic stuff), DREAM THEATER and KING CRIMSON. Spectacular solo and instrumental interludes pepper the track and spice it up nicely. Between grand transitions, sweeping melodies make it a fantastic track.

GYROCOPTER is a spectacular quasi-ender that shows off some Derek Sherinian like piano chops. The fun little near 3 minute track is mostly instrumental, and is like a fun little solo for the musicians. The vocals are kind of funny also.

Overall, the album is just magnificent, and a great buy for most prog fans, heavy and light. I highly recommend this album!