DEVIATION FROM THE FLOW

This was a pleasant surprise i'll tell ya. Have to give a thankyou to "b olariu" who has been offering up lots of Prog-Metal reviews of late including this one. This Finnish band is very melodic and heavy with some complexity thrown into the mix. The vocals are excellent,they don't stand out like some but they sound really good. Not an average song in the bunch either. Oh,and i really like the cover art.

Talk about hitting the ground running,that's what we get with the first track "Assembly Line". Heavy drums and bass as the guitar grinds away. Vocals follow. Check out the guitar solo 4 minutes in. "Colours In Between" is both heavy and crunchy. Some harmonies in this one too that come and go. While this band sounds nothing like KING'S X that's who I thought of with the harmonies on this track. A great guitar section starts before 3 minutes. "The Industry" is really a tasteful rant against the music industry. Great lyrics on this one. Riffs with vocal harmonies that come and go. Vocals follow. The tempo picks up after a minute. Themes are repeated. Scorching guitar after 3 minutes.

"The Long Run" is thankfully not a cover of that EAGLES song. Haha. Actually ZERO HOUR comes to mind during this song. Nice drum / guitar section 4 minutes in topped off with a killer guitar solo. I really like the mellow section 6 1/2 minutes in. "Divided" features guitar that sounds so good. It gets heavier quickly. Vocals before 1 1/2 minutes as it settles. The tempo keeps shifting on this one. "Expedition" is my favourite song on here. Uptempo with some fantastic guitar and vocals. There is a mellow passage at 3 1/2 minutes and when it ends they kick back in with some ripping guitar. "Circles In The Sand" opens with heavy bass and drums with some complex guitar. Vocals a minute in.The drumming is great. The soundscape from the intro is back after 4 1/2 minutes. Crunchy guitar late. "Fragile Pages" opens with some guest keyboard. Vocals before a minute then the song kicks in.The contrast continues.Tasteful guitar after 4 1/2 minutes and later before 7 minutes. Some brief heaviness after 8 minutes.

Hey at 50 minutes in length it's just right as well. Easily 4 stars.