PLAYGROUNDS

"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)