SYKOFANT

This heavy prog debut out of Norway presents a mixed bag of things to love and things I'd like to see the band improve upon. Right off the top they establish a sound based in proggy 90's alt-rock (think The Tea Party, or even 1995-2000 Marillion), spiced up with dashes of Opeth's jagged, angular riffing and Pink Floyd's tranquil, guitar- driven interludes.

The first track kicks off with two things I enjoy and two things I do not. First, the distorted guitar tone is fuzzy and chunky, the perfect sound to compliment the slippery riffing. The lead vocals are gritty and emotive. Unfortunately, the clean guitar tone is too rounded for my ears (they needed to not roll the tone knob off so far, or to switch to the bridge pickup), and the background vocals tend towards sloppiness.

The second track ramps up the Pink Floyd and Opeth influences, starting with melancholy clean guitar arpeggios and Gilmour-esque lead guitar and ending up in some seriously heavy and dissonant riffs. The piece moves between sections smoothly, never feeling clunky or unnatural as it rises from "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" to "Ghost of Perdition". The third track, "Monuments of Old", is dominated by technical but not excessively heavy riffing, a sort of bright and nimble sound evocative of mid-70's Rush. Next up, "Between the Moments" brings a healthy dose of funky blues rock riffing. It's not groundbreaking or particularly interesting, but the raucous vocal performances make for an enjoyable listen.

Moving in towards the end, "Strangers" opens with a solid harmonic minor lead guitar showcase, before flowing into some more proggy alt-rock that bleeds over into some strange but cool surf/Western style guitar instrumentals. It's odd but it works, sort of. The whole thing ends on a long ambient movement that doesn't really go anywhere but is a nice change of pace.

The final track, "Forgotten Paths", needed some work in the pacing department (or maybe just needed editing). There's lots of decent ideas, but they lead nowhere except a lackluster slide solo and a sort of awkward reggae movement. Eventually the song (and album) ends with a whimper rather than a bang.

On the whole, this album just has slightly too much 90's alt-rock influence for my tastes, but there's enough I found enjoyable that I'll definitely follow what this band does next. Some broad strokes thoughts: I liked the loud, mid- boosted bass, since it fills out the texture in a great way; the longer tracks tend to be better, as the band uses the extra space to experiment and flesh things out more, rising to some interesting peaks, whereas the shorter songs tend to sacrifice that diversity for a generic while solid if not particularly impressive rock sound; I really liked the avant-garde landscape artwork on the cover, and; overall I'd call this a solid mishmash of their influences, but it lacks originality in a major way.

Track Rating: Pavement of Color (6), Between Air and Water (9), Monuments of Old (7), Between the Moments (7), Strangers (7), Forgotten Paths (6).

Overall Rating: 7/10, or, 3 Stars (rounded down).