RITUALS

Ageness from Finland, a neo prog band that was formed from ashes of Scarab who manage to release one album in 1983. They were born in 1991 with the first album released in 1992. Three years later comes the second one named Rituals , issued in 1995 on Musea records. Well, this band was a surprise , because I guess I don't know 2 or 3 names from neo prog zone that comes from Finland and second I really enjoy this album quite contary with waht ratings have here. They play the kind of neo prog up tempo most of the time that reminds me of IQ meets Arena with a voice that sounds like Gabriel meets the guy from american prog rock band North Star. Despite the fact that the voice of Tommy Eriksson is an acquired taste but I got used to after several listnings, the instrumental arrangements are quite ok most of the time. I can't find that bad sections other mentioned here, every piece sounds good and in places even great. Pieces like Forver retutns, Chainsaw murders and the best track of the album to me is Polyphemus - a really solid pieces with good guitar , keybords and a busy bass. Another good one id the ending track Mortal Wings Of Sin II. Th e weakest tune is Hidden space, here the voice sounds pretty forced and in the most quite and mellowe moments is little hard to digest. Overall to me Rituals is good, practicaly I've enjoy it from start to finish. Ok is not a groundbreaking release or something alike, but I like what I've heared here in contrast with bad feedback got from others. 3 stars easy maybe in places 3.5.