RIPPLES IN TIME

"Ripples In Time" is the debut full-length studio album by Danish progressive metal act Chrome Shift. The album was released through DVS Records in 2003. Chrome Shift was formed in 1999 and released a demo in 2000. They turned out to be a relatively short lived act though and "Ripples In Time" is their sole album release.

The music on the album is progressive metal. It´s heavy yet melodic vers/chorus oriented metal. The challenging instrumental parts are kept to a minimum so to my ears this is actually more regular heavy metal with progressive elements than full-blown progressive metal. The keyboards do provide the album with a progressive touch though and the closing four tracks which seque into each other to form the epic title track also display some progressive tendencies. Don´t expect this to be as challenging or adventurous as an act like Dream Theater or their ilk though. The compositions are generally solid but they do lack originality and a personal sound.

The musicianship is overall on a high level. Lead vocalist Rasmus Bak has a strong and powerful voice and the interplay between the rest of the band is impeccable. The sound production is relatively well sounding, but nothing special, and it could easily have been better, which would probably have boosted the music.

"Ripples In Time" is overall a decent debut album by Chrome Shift but it will first and foremost appeal to fans of vers/chorus oriented progressive metal and not fans of the more challenging part of the genre. To my ears the music is a bit too safe and lacks the adventurous progressive spirit that characterizes the top tier acts in the genre. But as I stated above it´s a decent album in the respect that the musicianship and the compositions are of a relatively high quality, so a 3 star (60%) rating isn´t all wrong.