NOAH

I generally have mixed feelings about Progressive Metal concept albums mainly because of the many times I got burned by flawed releases that many fan consider to be pinnacles of the genre. But when I think of it, it's not so much the concept albums but rather particular bands and artists, who promote themselves as conceptual metal giants, that have done more damage to my judgmental mind than the genre as a whole. I'm talking about Ayreon, Shadow Gallery, Blind Guardian and a few others... oops... almost forgot Kamelot!

The reason for my rant is the mere fact that it feels so refreshing to actually hear a great Progressive Metal concept album that doesn't rely on the well-established clichés of the past/present and manages to move things forward. This is exactly what Frederic Epe and his backing musicians manage to achieve on Noah! This entire album is filled with music that will hijack your mind from the first time you'll hear it and will continue to grow until you'll master this 80+ minute beast. This is at least what happened to me; I started off listening to Noah with the bare minimum expectations imaginable but was met with such a versatile album that I just couldn't get it out of my head for weeks and felt like refreshing that memory every now and then in the process!

There is really no reason for me to go into detail about the individual tracks since Noah should only be heard in its entirety. This might actually be considered somewhat of a drawback due to the album's hefty length that reaches just above the regular size of one CD. Once an artist/band releases this much material, the results are bound to vary in quality. Hopefully, the individual moments are developed just enough to hold all the pieces of the puzzle together and thus create quite a solid and fluent piece of music.

If you're a fan of conceptual Progressive Metal then you should already have this album in your collection since this is an essential piece of storytelling that can be compared to Pain of Salvation's Be and Dream Theater's Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From A Memory. Seriously, stop wasting your and my time and get this album already!

***** star songs: Prologue (This New World) (5:36) Solar Blast (6:46) Falling Stars (8:24)

**** star songs: The Boy Is Awake (3:42) In the Name Of Ishmael (7:36) Royalty & Conspiracies (6:31) Red Ashes (The Privilege of War) (3:02) Blowing Red Ashes Pt.I (3:45) The Uranium Machine (5:16) Unexpected Twists & Turns (3:25) These Haunted Days (4:14) Blowing Red Ashes Pt.II (6:13) Flora & ..(4:45) Life (5:27)

*** star songs: Deimos Theme (6:58)