COAL

There is no doubt that when these guys released 'Bilateral' in 2011 that they created a lot of noise in the prog scene, literally. Here is a band that is happy, really happy, to be a metal outfit and tour with bands like Amorphis, Therion, Opeth, Pagan's Mind et al yet also have one foot firmly in the prog camp. And if you didn't know, these guys have acted as fellow Norwegian Ihsahn's backing band so they really have no qualm with producing music at the heaviest and most complex level. When I started playing this two bands sprang to mind immediately, and the more I played it the more I was convinced that I was right. Here is a band that takes the melodic soundscape of Muse, and then mixes it up liberally with Devin Townsend to create something that at times is almost breathtakingly beautiful and yet at others is a wall of sound as they crank up the energy and the volume to 11.

There is no doubt to my mind that this is metallic prog metal of some class and power, yet I am sure that it will upset some listeners who feel that prog should be more sedate and not in your face quite so much. But if prog is about progressing and pushing the boundaries as opposed to regressing and attempting to be a clone of the great bands that have gone before then this is it. This is modern, with the odd nod back to King Crimson, and is very much modern metallic progressive music for the 21st century. The more I have played this the more I have enjoyed it and while I think 4*'s is the right mark for now, ask me again in a few months and it may have made it up 5. If you want a dynamic soundscape then this is it. www.insideout.de