THE PERFECT ELEMENT - PART 1

When I first heard of PoS, I discounted them as just another "Nu Metal" band; mainly because the name sounded like they'd be "Nu Metal". After discovering the prog- archives and the nice full length song samples, I realized I was very, very wrong about PoS. They are anything but "Nu Metal". They are prog in all the right ways. The instrumentation of the songs is very good, but it is the quality of the compositions that really elevate the music. None of the songs are boring, they are all individually entertaining excercises in variety. Sometimes heavy, sometimes light, sometimes with lush vocal harmony, and other times with screaming torment. Often this is all within one song and yet the music never sounds disjointed or forced.

One thing I will note is that PoS is not a band that you get on the first listen. Like many challenging artists, you really need to listen to it 10 times or more to capture everything that is happening. There is so much to take in that it just can't be rushed. It's kind of like watching Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail once and thinking you got all the jokes the first time through! After all, most of us hold albums like Dark Side of the Moon in such high regard because we've listened to it hundreds of times and know the album inside out. I have a feeling that any prog-metal or art rock fan would really appreciate this album, more so if they give the album a chance to age with repeated listenings. This is an essential representative of the prog- metal genre and a worthy inclusion into any collection (especially when compared to Dream Theater's concept album Scenes from a Memory).