HARMAGEDON

This album, a delightful surprise to me, managed to get on the top of my personal "favourite albums of 2012", before names like The Flower Kings and echolyn. Super groups are of course nothing new, not in prog or even in progressive metal realm, but Affector has skill and inspiration enough to get past tired clichés and to actually produce great, quality metal. Riffs and melodies are tasty and accessible yet complex enough to keep interest throughout the album. There are many amazing moments and some stunning tracks like "New Jerusalem" and "Salvation" give numerous goosebumps to me. The powerful voice Ted Leonard, skilful bass playing of Mike LePond and heavy drumming of Collin Leijenaar work take their place well in Daniel Freies' compositions, and he gets to shine as well in many solos which go enough but never too much to the shredding territory. This is one of those albums that help me keep my faith in today's progressive metal, a much bashed genre from many directions both in and outside of prog.