PLAYGROUNDS

SIEGES EVEN departure from scenarios is sad for me. while Subsignal(featuring makus stefen and arno menses) is a project I'm interested to listen shortly, this album set a point to remember one of the best bands of the genre(speaking like a fan, more than an expert who I am not at all). I don't like to see it as an closure point, but Fans deserved a live album long ago, and I cant find more about a band that is my personal favourite. excellent sound, razor edge performance. a great album.

song by song, shortly: when alpha and omega collide. opening track from the paramount cd. as good as the studio version. Tidal: often I use to say this song is pretty more into modern alternative rock than prog metal at all, but its ok. in an album that featured tracks like "Leftovers" (one i think is missing on this live album), and "where our shadows sleep" following the "paramount" original lineup at the beginning. Unbreakable: an epic track from, the art of navigating by the stars. a less intense song but with good passages and a melancholic flavor. tastefull the waking hours: as Arno anounces, TWA is an Sieges Even anthem! they play it a bit faster but the song delivers all that energy. an album highlight!! and the solo is one of my favourites. "must we find fortune, in constant revolt?" Iconic: maybe without disagree the band's selective line-up, cause honestly I rather could placed another song instead this one. I miss a bit, in this song(in mostly others too) the backing vocals like on the studio versions. This empty places: the best song in the line-up!! epic. sadly the song(lyrics) maybe captures the feeling of the later split of the band. instrumental passages are cutting edge, even with the quotation of "red barcheta" by oliver... (this song is already on youtube, not this version, but this album's version a far better performance... if any from this band doesn't? I don't think so. ) duende: features live overdubs? kinda! vocals layered sounds awesome!!! seems like is more riff-based like the paramount material. Paramount: the title track from the last album. a conceptual song, Credit given to the fact they recreated instrumental parts "surgeon like" as the CD, details are in its place. the lonely view of condors: vocal performance in this album is remarkable, but this song confirms that Arno is my fav. SE in their history (giving also credits to previous singers who gave SE memorable albums too). The weight: epic! the opening track from TAONBTS is where the best closure to the album, and the croud singing the melody and the alex's double bass drums kicked supreme!

SE will be missed, maybe someday discovered by cats that look beyond the mainstream and anything that sounds like or better Dream Theater. maybe the album itself is not a jewel or a masterpiece, but its excellent for me. I'd love if could feature songs from Sophisticated(none, already), or Uneven. but in fact, from here you can look back and find more a band that should be as influential as mainstream bands. SE is inspiring and it's footprint in PLAYGROUNDS, is a big step of a great band, for the history.

The final release from the polyrhythmic metal-fusion-art rock combo Sieges Even before they broke up for the second time, apparently for good. This live album consists of selections from the last two albums, plus two of the more accessible numbers from 1991's A sense of change. That means this is the softer, art-rockier side of Sieges, with the penchant of frequently hopping from light to heavy.

The last two albums, especially the delicate and melancholic Art of navigating by the stars, had a remarkably clear and detailed production. Such studio trickery, of course, can't be reproduced live, so it's interesting to see what they come up with to compensate. It means that while the songs structurally remain the same, they still sound different, and this merits their inclusion in your collection. Mostly the instruments are still very clear but louder, especially the bass is fat and loud (and it was very prominent even in the studio albums). This really brings out the power in the opening lines of the Weight, for example, and energizes the ballad Unbreakable. Because, lets face it, Sieges, for all their virtuosity, do have a few tedious numbers.

As for rating, I'm confused. A live album probably doesn't merit 5 stars. However, if this was a studio album and we heard these songs for the first time, it would be a must-have, as is Sieges Even in any serious prog/metal collection.

"Playgrounds" is a live album release by German progressive metal act Sieges Even. The album was released through SPV Records/Inside Out Music in July 2008. It succeeds the release of the band's seventh full-length studio album "Paramount" from September 2007. It was the last release by Sieges Even before they disbanded. They split-up in mid-2008, so they were probably already disbanded when "Playgrounds" was released.

The material featured on the album was recorded during the tour supporting the release of "Paramount" (2007), and the 10 song tracklist features no less than 5 tracks from the album. The remaining part of the tracklist comprise 3 tracks from "The Art of Navigating by the Stars" (2003) and 2 tracks from "A Sense of Change" (1991). So "Playgrounds" only features material from three out of the band's seven full-length studio albums, and predominantly focuses on the last two studio releases. The show is incredibly well performed. All instrumental performances are brilliant and lead vocalist Arno Menses delivers his lines with great conviction and skill. It's sometimes to a point where you're in doubt if this was truly recorded live, but there are some audience noises here and there to make sure this sounds like an authentic live release. Menses also speaks to the audience on a few occassions, telling which song they are about the hear, making a joke about one of the songs being a hit in Lichenstein, because it sold 3 copies...etc.

The track selection works fine and there is a focused red thread throughout the show in terms of flow. While the tracks from the two preceding studio albums work well it is still nice to hear "The Waking Hours" and "These Empty Places" performed by this lineup of Sieges Even. I'm temped to say that these versions are better than the original studio versions. "Playgrounds" features an organic, powerful, and well sounding production, which suits the material perfectly, and upon conclusion it's a high quality swansong release by Sieges Even. Hopefully one day I'll be forced to revisit this review and delete the word "swansong". A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives)