FOOD FOR THOUGHT SUBSTITUTE

I wished I'd known about this Prog-Metal band from Canada back in the late nineties. Just for the record I have reviewed their followup to this their debut but felt it was a little too complex for my liking while "Food For Thought Substitute" is much more melodic yet it's certainly not without it's complexities. Love the album cover as well. Great vocals, in your face bass and plenty of guitar work with three guitarists although the one guy plays the intricate picked guitar parts only.

"Your God's Crime" has a very heavy intro as determined vocals join in. An excellent start. "Out Of Me" is heavy as vocal melodies arrive around a minute in. The calm with reserved vocals sounds great and this will be contrasted with the the heavier parts. "March" has some atmosphere to start as passionate vocals arrive. This is contrasted with angrier vocals and and a heavier sound. Love the crunchy bass. "The Alchemist" has fragile vocals and picked guitar with atmosphere. It's almost ballad-like until it kicks into gear around 1 1/2 minutes in. Lots of mood shifts in this one. A beautiful section starts 5 1/2 minutes in. "Gaia's Judgement" opens with guitar and heaviness as the synths pulse. The vocals join in but when they stop after 2 minutes we get lots of synths with heaviness which is kind of cool. The vocals are back after 4 minutes.

"Face" features some excellent riffing to start but a calm arrives quickly with reserved vocals and big bass lines. The riffs are back and I really dig those riffs. "Cruel Disguise" opens with intricate guitar as reserved vocals join in. It starts to pick up a minute in. This is very FATES WARNING-like and my favourite track on here. "The Horde" has heavy bass with drums and guitar to start as vocal melodies come and go. Reserved vocals 1 1/2 minutes in but they become more passionate a minute later but contrasts will continue. The tempo continues to shift. "Passage" is interesting, almost electronic-like with those waves of synths with keys. "Wings" has some nice crunchy bass along with double tracked vocals and drums standing out. A feel good track. Some samples voices as well 2 1/2 minutes in.

This felt very nostalgic for me even though I haven't heard this before, it's just been a while since I've heard some old school Prog- Metal and this is incredibly well done. This is highly recommended to all you Metal fans out there.