BURN THE SUN

After the beautiful selfnamed debut, this Burn The Sun is probably as magnificient as his predecessor, but start having some little boring moments in the middle of his travel, for example the song Absolute Zero, which I find a little bit useless, and less prog and articulated odd times moments vis-à-vis the debut album. Still there are the same marvellous musicianship, with in particular Jorne Lande which has one of the most recognizable and emotional voice I've ever heard in progressive music history, the same powerful guitar riffs and frantic solos from Tore Otsby (and this time guitars, especially when distortion comes across, are far better recorded), the same beautifully recorded and highly proggish drumming from John Macaluso, the same stunning and always surprisingly exciting balance between spanish, blues, soul, metal and prog atmospheres. Highlights are Heal The Waters, Torn (marvellous melody in the chorus), Burn The Sun, Just A Little (stunning performance from Lande), Waking Hour and I Bleed. Ark is definitely one of the most interesting bands you can approach if you're interested in the neo progressive metal genre. No doubts, buy this record, it's absolutely worth it! Funny thing: Noose's opening riff is absolutely identical to the one that open Dream Theater's This Dying Soul featured in the 2003 record Train Of Thought.