DAWNING (2004 REISSUE)

What can you say? It's just been done so many times over that this CD sounds flat. Nothing interesting here. Sure the musicianship is good but do we really need to hear it in this format. You'll find this one in the cut-out bin or balancing the table of your local bar/club.

Filled with complex, melodic, and catchy passages, this album is amazing from start to finish.

It takes the listener on a journey through maze-like riffs, reinforced by excellent solos and vocals coming from a slight power metal angle. The musicianship displayed by Archetype is exemplary. Listening to these guys pull off this detailed songwriting with such authority and precision is exhilarating!

Very well recorded, every instrument is given equal room to shine, though the bass guitar is slightly in the background, but that is to be expected.

An incredible progressive album on all points. If I were to describe this album in two words, they would be "catchy" and "technical". Very highly recommended!

This album is a forgotten pearl in the prog metal world!I was absolutelly amazed by the passion and true dramatic feeling of this album since I 've discovered it,many years ago! Today,in 2010,I have the same enchantment and emotion when I make an audition!It transmits the same feeling and I wonder how it's possible after so many auditions to have the same satisfaction and positive mood when I hear such wonderful music?!?!I really can compare this album with the brilliant THE EDGE of ETERNIITY X,and I really feel thet the prog metal proposed by ARCHETYPE has the same common roots like the band mentioned before! The dramatic voice of GREG WAGNER has something that makes ARCHETYPE's music not to be ordinary or common!It's a dramatic sense of the performance,-interpretation-in the high register especially,but also when we feel his rage in the interpretation!Musically speaking,this is pure American metal with strong technical and progressive touch!The musicians are so performants ,they are really efficient and technical,every musician is 100 % skilled on his instrument!It sounds a little like FATES WARNING in the beginning,but more muscled,it sounds like METAL CHURCH or VICIOUS RUMORS,but definitelly ARCHETYPE has it's own personality!Chris Matyus at guitar is also a strong ace in the hands of the band,and he really pushes here some impressive solos,diverse and catchy,each time melodic and intense!All songs are brilliant and the track YEARS AGO is a pure masterpiece,like HANDS OF TIME too,a musical anthem for ARCHETYPE undoubtedly!!!It's a pity that Wagner left from the band,because he was exceptional,and I don't know if the new one will bring something new compared to the brilliant previous one!The European presentation of the album,under the licence of the Italian label LUCRETIA RECORDS is trully superbe,in DVD format as aspect of the slipcase!4,5 STARS for a wonderful album that worth to be in every collection of any prog power metal fan!