SACRED PATHWAYS

They released their first album in 1996 but Artension have only recently started working with each other again. The press release describes this as 'Neoclassical Progressive Metal', and that is probably quite a fair description. The music is based very much around the keyboards of Vitalij Kuprij who in fact met guitarist Roger Steffalbach when he travelled to Switzerland to further his studies on piano (as well as playing in other rock bands such as Ring Of Fire he has also recorded a solo classical CD).

Vitalij writes all of the music and loves nothing better than to show off his speed and dexterity, sometimes to the detriment to the music as a whole. But when it works, such as on "The Emperor", it can be awesome (possibly as this is one of the tracks where Roger also lets rip). John West (Royal Hunt) provides all of the vocals but the feeling for much of the album is that although it has many good points, and some quite brilliant, overall the band could do with a few more tunes and less of the posturing. Not an album to totally dismiss, and one that I will play again, but bands like Stratovarius are more consistent to my ears.

Originally appeared in Feedback #66, Feb 03