SECTION A

Third album of Section A, named Sacrifice issued in 2010 at LionMusic is little of a letdown from previous works, why because here the band sounds like a heavy/power metal band the progressive metal elements are left aside almost entirely. The band contucted by danish guitarist Torben Enevoldsen helped by some talented musicians , some of them being part of the band on previous albums, this time Section A sounds like a typical metal band without having anything intresting ore inventive to offer here, maybe the only progressive metal pice and the longest is Land Of The Desert Sun, clocking arounf six and half minutes this is the best they've got from this album. Short pieces is all about here, not developed enough in arrangements to fully capture my intrest, while not bad overall , are far from being catchy or original. I prefer their previous 2 albums who are far more intresting and far more progressive metal then this Sacrifice. This kind of metal I was listning when I was 15 years, not it seams to me little boring and very dull in places. Still, 3 stars for this album, hardly essential or intresting, fans of prog metal must purchase this release with caution because is more towards heavy /power metal. No lenghy tracks anymore or elaborated passages as on first and second album.

What do you need when you are putting together a progressive metal band? Very skilful musicians, a very good vocalist and a good production...

Well all of the ingredients are in place on this album from Section A. Torben Enevoldsen is handling all of the song writing, guitars and keyboards - and he delivers some awesome licks, shredding and leads on the guitar all over this very good album, backing him up is new guy: Johan Koleberg (Ex-Lion's Share), who replaced Andreas Lill (Vanden Plas) and Pontus Egberg on bass. Like on their first album vocalist Andy Engberg shines, he has one the best voices in progressive metal, he's a perfect fit for Torben's music.

Maybe some of you remember their debut album from 2003 "The Seventh Sign" (on Lion Music)? This new one is a big step forward, everything seems to be better worked out and the album has a better production. This album has so much to offer; great songs, great vocal performances, some excellent guitar leads and so on...

Do yourself a favour and at least take a hard listen to this album!

Recommended: "Dark Alliance", "Hoping for a Miracle" & " Beginning of the End"

Section A's 'Seventh Sign' is a complex mix of hard rock fused with an aggressive blend of progressive arrangements that will your senses in a state of euphoric splendor. I was very impressed with Torben Enevoldsen's music genius. Especially his guitar playing. Very dynamic and energetic that at times reminded me of such players like, Tony MaCalpine and Shawn Lane. Though his playing may echo these great players, make no doubt Torben is definitely in a league all his own. As is evident on the title track that opens the CD. Between Torben's stellar guitar work, Andy Engberg's powerful vocals and Andreas Lill's precession drumming, it was obvious to me that this trio's chemistry was as tight as a glove. The musical arrangements on songs like, "Pray For Rain" and "The Man In The Mirror", simply blew me away. Every song on this CD has its own character and personality. 'Seventh Sign' is the kind of album that you put on and let its music take you where ever it wants to. Knowing that, when you finish listening, it was a musical experience that blew you away would love to take over and over again. They say first impressions are everything and my first impression of Section A is progressive rock trio that has taken the genre onto the next level. This one band that you will be hearing about it a lot in the years to come. They also say actions speak louder that words. Get your hands on Section A's, 'Seventh Sign' and experience what musical brilliance is all about for yourselves.

Second album named Parallel lives from 206 from this unnoticed band is another good album in my opinion. A little less convinceing then previous, who was also not a masterpiece or something essential, this album is a little heavier in places. Well, keeping the same sound, the same manner of composing, the attitude, in places is rougher, like the cases with Dominici or Symphony X, whre they change the aproach of their prog metal in a more rougher and heavier manner. I don't think this is the key to a wider audience, each time in this cases turns to be not a good movement. Here the album sounds no more so intristing, even the key passages now made by Mats Olausson from Yngwie Malmsteen fame are usual and without that shineing moments of Sherinian or Werno, the guitar is ok in places I here some neo clssical aproach here combined with prog metal themes, the voice is ok again but not so great as on previous album. Still a good album in my view, nothing realy spectacular, even in some parts they try to give to the listner something worth investigated, the pieces are ok but nothing more. The longest track from here Dark Alliance is the best this band has on this album , nearly 11 min of solid song writting and good musicianship, the rest are only ok, nothing realy impressive or groundbreaking. I found this album worth 3 stars for sure, I like it, but is less convinceing then other albums from this field. And another thing , no matter how bad is for some listners this band and specially this album I realy don't think this desearves 1 star, with 2 stars I'm agree partialy, but to give 1 star and above all to be a prog metal lover is something strange to me. Anyway each one with his view, I found it enjoyble all the way , even is nothing essential here.3 stars for sure. Both albums are available at LionMusic. Similar with Vanden Plas, Dominici, Artension.

3.5 realy

Section A is a progressive metal band from Denmark formed around multi instrumentalist Torben Enevoldsen. He gathered here on first album, aswell on second a bunch of great musicians , well known in this field. Released at Lion Music in 2003 the first album named The seventh sign is a typical album for this scene. Nothing over the top or excellent , but good with pleasent moments. The musicians involved here are as I said well known in prog metal like, Derek Sherinian and Gunter Werno on key from Vanden Plas and Kamelot, Andreas Lill on drums aswell from Vanden Plas, Andy Engberg behind the microphone from Book of Reflections and Lion's Share and of course the main man of the band Torben Enevoldsen. The music is good, without shineing, only in places, the excellent keys of Sherinian and Werno and the brilliant voice of Egberg make this album worth investigated. While the pieces are well developed, elaborated in manner of composing, with nice moments, Section A doesn't offer something truly solid in this field. For many this is usual prog metal album, with little acomplished moments, in a way I'm agree, they bring nothing new in this genre, but at least they sound good. The plus goes to the voice of Egberg, excellent vocalist, realy fits perfect here, and the keys, the rest are good, the guitar is ok , nothing realy impressive but good all the way. So, to me this first attempt to make some noise in prog metal succeded for Section A, memorable tracks are , the title track, with furious keys provided by Sherinian and great guitar chops, Pray For Rain and Tomorrow, the rest are ok. Definetly a good release in my book, who desearve 3 stars more like, 3.5. Worth some spinings if you are intrested in this genre but don't expect something realy impressive.

"Parallel Lives" is the 2nd full-lengthstudio album by multinational metal act Section A. The album was released in 2006 by Lion Music.

I purchased the band´s debut album "The Seventh Sign (2003)" when it was released because I had heard rumours of guitarist/ main composer Torben Enevoldsen´s considerable guitar shredding skills and that album did me a pretty good listening experience even though the generally hard rocking metal/ power metal style on that album wasn´t exactly innovative. Enevoldsen´s solos occasionally made the album shine and the high level of musicianship wasn´t bad either. The compositions were solid but unfortunately also a bit formulaic and unfortunately the same can be said about "Parallel Lives".

The music is still traditional styled metal/ power metal/ with a few progressive elements like the jazzy keyboard in "Moment of Truth" but generally you have to look a very long time for progressive elements on the album. Enevoldsen´s guitar solos are, as the case was on the debut album, the greatest asset on the album. Fast and furious yet melodic. They are unfortunately the only highlight on the album. The compositions are just as formulaic and trivial as it was the case on the debut but there seem to be even fewer standout moments on "Parallel Lives". The vocals are hard rock/ power metal styled but not of the extremely high pitched kind. Andy Engberg is as such a strong vocalist but I´m not especially fond of his voice or singing style. The tracks feature lots of keyboards but they are mostly used to support the guitar driven songs and work as polish. There are some female vocals in the track "Awakening" which is nice for the variation on the album.

The production is professional and polished.

"Parallel Lives" is all in all too filled with clichés and generic compositions to really lift it above mediocrity. It´s too bad because the musicianship and the professional sound production could have carried the music far. A 2 - 2.5 star rating is deserved.

The Seventh Sign from Section A is fairly vanilla prog metal with a good dose of hair metal vocals. When the first vocals that come out are a primal scream that would go well on a Dokken album, many may cringe a bit. Andy Enberg has a decent voice but he was born many years too late to take full advantage of it.

The music reminds me a bit of Symphony X but is a bit less heavy and not so technical. Main man Torben Enevoldsen plays guitars, bass and keys (with two guest spots for keys, one of which is Derek Sherinian). Enevoldsen also wrote all the music. And since he is the main man and wrote all the music, by golly he is going to give himself some over the top guitar solos. Many show off a heavy quotient of notes per minute and tend to be a bit samey after awhile. But the guy can certainly play. All this shredding leaves little room for much in the way of keyboards except for the guest spots on three songs. On Nightmare, Enevoldsen and Sherinian go to the DT well with a back and forth guitar/keyboard solo. The Spanish guitar makes an appearance on the almost 10-minute Tomorrow, probably the highlight of the album. Of course there is a two-minute long electric guitar solo squarely in the middle of it.

Section A has made a serviceable prog metal album here but as so often happens, the songwriting cannot keep up with the chops and you are left with an effort somewhere in the middle of the morass of metal offerings being foisted onto the buying public. An "A" for effort but only two stars for the complete package. Sorry guys.

"The Seventh Sign" is the debut fulllength studio album by multi-national metal act Section A. The album was released in 2003 by Lion Music. The main man behind the project is Danish guitarist/ bassist/ Keyboardist Torben Enevoldsen. Torben Enevoldsen has released instrumental solo albums before creating Section A. He has hired a couple of Swedish guns for the project in Andy Engberg (Ex-Lion´s Share) on vocals and Andreas Lill on drums. Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater, Platypus, Planet X and solo) guests with a couple of keyboard solos on the title track and on the track "Nightmare". Derek Sherinian involvelment in the project was of course adverticed with a sticker on the jewel case back when I purchased the album. It´s a bit of a shame really as Sherinian´s contributions aren´t essentially what Section A are about. I guess it had good commercial value though.

The music is melodic and slightly progressive metal with an emphasis on melody and with lots of guitar solos from main composer Torben Enevoldsen. Expect traditional heavy metal/ power metal first and progressive elements second. The album is pretty consistent in quality. Torben Enevoldsen is a really skilled guitarist and composer too. He plays some really fast notes but leaves room for melody as well. His style reminds me a bit of the sound of Steve Vai (without ever reaching the masters touch of course). All tracks are powerful metal tunes featuring some pretty extravagant guitar solos and songs like the title track and "Riot" are some of the highlights.

The musicianship is really good. Andy Engberg is skilled vocalist and the drumming by Andreas Lill is tight but nothing out of the ordinary. Torben Enevoldsen´s guitar playing is IMO the main attraction on "The Seventh Sign" though.

The production is solid and professional sounding.

"The Seventh Sign" is in many ways an enjoyable album, but it´s safe to say Section A don´t invent the wheel. I could have wished for a bit less predictable compositions, more compositional depth and more will to experiment to avoid clichés. Section A are best when they are most progressive. A 3 star rating is warranted.

This album is awful.Sect A Is a a typical power metal band with some progressive addition.It should be qualified prog related metal .All the cd is boring and repeated initial vocal solos with boring and repeated chorus and in the middle some solos of guitars and keyboards.In they stay as they are they will dissapear soon.

When I bought this CD I had several months without acquiring any new prog disc on my collection, so I decided for a band to make this purchase worthwhile and so it was. I entered to a downtown music store where the salesman was a friend of mine and he knew exactly the kind of music I love. So, he played the first promo track of the album and so I could see it clear: This band had to be on my collection!!!

"Seventh Sign" from "Section A" is a really serious and brilliant album recorded by a prog metal band which has a particular and attractive style. They combine the force and purity of prog metal from late 90's with stunning superguitar solos, late heavy rock riffs and of course some elements of space rock. All of those elements combined in a metal background.

There is an significant presence on guest keyboards by Derek Sherinian on two tracks "The Seventh Sign" and "Nightmare" and by Gunter Werno on "Tomorrow". There is also a clear influence of Dream Theater by the times of "Images And Words" but with an even more solid metal force. The finesse and clearance of Andy Engberg's vocals combines in a perfect way with the explosive drums of Andreas Lill. The professional maturity of superguitarist Torben Enevoldsen, who is, without a doubt the main musician of the band, makes this a worthwhile addition to any prog metal collector. The production made by Enevoldsen himself makes his expressive and complex guitar arrangements seem to be especially predominant throughout music without breaking the balance of the rest of the band.

If you love prog metal from DT or Sun Caged or superguitars as Ciril Achards, Lars Eric Mattson this album is definitely a must. Section A is a band with real talent to make music of high quality; if you love complex guitar arrangements you will not be disappointed at all. So they deserve four solid stars from me, excellent addition to any prog collection!

Good progressions!!!