FICTION EDGE 1 (ASCENT)

"Fiction Edge 1 (Ascent)" is the debut full-length studio album by Portugese progressive metal act Forgotten Suns. The album was released through Galileo records in July 2000. Forgotten Suns was formed by guitarist Ricardo Falcão in 1991 (some sources say 1996).

Forgotten Suns play some pretty standard 90/00s progressive metal, featuring guitars, bass, drums, keyboards, and vocals. There´s little here you haven´t heard before and as "Fiction Edge 1 (Ascent)" is packed in a sub par production job, it´s not exactly among the top albums of the genre. The songwriting is also without much passion and conviction, and the epic almost cinematic keyboard instrumentals make this quite the tedious listen. Opening instrumental track "Big Bang" is for example 6:31 minutes long, which is way too long for an intro track to an album. The tracklist is also a bit weird with four out of the opening five tracks being instrumentals. In fact it´s like the first seven tracks of the album are all just part of one long built up towards the 21:20 minutes long "A Journey".

The musicianship is slightly questionable and paired with the unremarkable compositions, and a sound production which is just above demo quality, Forgotten Suns do not exactly hit the ground running with "Fiction Edge 1 (Ascent)". A 2 - 2.5 star (45%) rating is warranted.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).