THIS IS THE WARNING

A hardly typical representation of neo-prog, this band actually sounds more like Chevelle after a diet of Porcupine Tree, Muse and U2. An accessible yet interesting mix of rock band inspirations with an aspiration to bang out some serious anthemic songs.

I actually found the opening track to be the band at their best with its majestic delivery and powerful guitar sound and overall production values. Here We Divide has some progressive leanings I suppose, but certainly no more than, say, Tool or bands similar to that in a sense, although I enjoy this song more than many songs by a lot of these big name alternative rock (with some progginess) groups. There are some variances to the rest of the songs, but not by all that much, which causes me to lose interest towards the last couple of tracks. The Drum stands out as a song as it follows a more post-rock crescendo template than the verse chorus format of much of the rest of this album, and yes, the drummer goes into a frenzy at the tune's climax. I assume that's why they entitled the song as "The Drum", but I could be wrong. Other tracks flirt with nu-metal commercial appeal to some extent, with The Space on the Wall sounding akin to something Breaking Benjamin would proudly release. Cage has a bit of NIN meets Muse in it's design. It's pretty obvious the target audience for this band isn't your typical neo-prog music fan, nor was that their intention. This is modern arena style rock, but played well and with a talented high registered vocalist.

I can enjoy this sort of thing once in a while. The music has punch and a vast wall of sound vibe, and the lyrics don't grate so much even if they seem to be about nothing except "falling down" and "rising up". This effort is definitely geared more towards fans of alternative rock stylings than prog rock fans, so that should be the decision whether to check the band out or not.