Ram It Down

"This is a really impressive release. It blew up my mind from the first time I listened to it, and still gets priority in my music listening sessions. What we've got here is Rage at their best, playing it loud & proud in the 90s, which was possibly the worst decade for metal, even though some bands like Running wild, Blind Guardian or Metal Church were still hanging on... in the balance!The album starts kicking ass from the first moment, with heavy and powerful guitars, and goes like that until the end of the release. POWER!!! That’s what this album transmits. Generally mid-paced songs predominate this album, this is not as fast as their 80s work. It keeps the musical line that started with "Trapped" but, it's generally darker, slower and begins the musical style developed during the next albums (we could say it’s the borderline). It also has some atmospheric details, just some hints here and there, that would be more frequent of their "XIII" or "Ghosts" works. Nevertheless, there are also fast songs (hey, it's Rage) that scream "Speed Metal rules, and if you don't like it dieeeeeeeeeeeeeee", like "Under Control", which starts fast and raw as hell and never slows down. "Higher than the Sky" is also a fast one (by the standards of this album), but more melodic than the previous one, and possibly with a chorus as catchy as “Don’t Fear the Winter”. The title track is also a fast and powerful one, (did I mention power before?) catchy and with an amazing solo.Rage has changed a lot during its history. One of the most remarkable improvements is Peavy’s performance, which is much better than his 80's efforts when he used to shriek. And the shrieking was fine for raw Speed Metal, but now that the band plays more Power/Heavy Metal, the deeper and more melodic vocals fit better. In this album he transmits perfectly the song moods to the listener, and good examples of this are the dark-depressive style ballad "Fading Hours" (that's one of the best songs to be found in here) and the mid-paced "Deep in the Blackest Hole". The first starts with an orchestrated atmosphere (reminds to “Overture” in “XIII”), a piano and Peavy's voice, and is maintained this way for 2 minutes and a half. Then the rest of the band comes in for a minute revealing what’s going to come after. Piano & violin alone again for a while and then the band comes back. And just then, when you think that the song is not going to change in any way, comes the solo part of 4:53 with the backing vocals and the piano: THAT MOMENT FUCKING OWNS YOU. After saying that, I still have to remark that the song is mainly driven by Peavy's vocals, and wouldn’t be half good if he didn’t perform so brilliantly. The latter song has also a depressive mood and the whole band does a very good job making you think they are "Deep in the Blackest Hole".Another excellent point of this album is that you never have the “I heard this before” feeling. Even though, it manages to sound as a whole in the “conceptual album” sense. That’s just fucking brilliant. Every song is memorable, with brilliant solos and catchy melodies, which none of them can be classified as filler material (I know this sounds a bit/lot like a “fanboy”, but this album really deserves being praised). If you liked "The Missing Link", "Trapped" or (especially) "Black in Mind", you will certainly like this one, which is slower but still an absolute winner.The only flaw in this release is that sometimes you've got the impression that Peavy is singing 5 miles away from the microphone, creating a strange echo effect. There's also the fact that the drums are a little bit loud and just average, nothing outstanding, and the bass is barely audible (I don't miss it much, but I know there are many bass-maniacs out there)." - Metal Archives

New remastered edition includs 24 page booklet with liner notes.Airbag is a new young prog band from Norway. Their music has a dreamy quality that will have you floating in the clouds. If you are fan of Riverside's lighter moments you will spooge over this. Definite references to Radiohead and Porcupine Tree will spring to mind as you listen. The music never explodes - it takes the slow fire approach creating constant tension. Lots of beautiful melodies wafting through your skull from the first listen. The disc comes with a really cool die cut sleeve and booklet (check out the jpeg). Highly recommended. These guys could potentially break big.

"Abnormal Thoughts Patterns is a new technical metal trio that comes onto the scene equipped with twenty-plus years of experience. Featuring Mike Guy on drums and twins Jasun and Troy Tipton on guitar and bass respectively, ATP is perhaps better known as the musical backbone of underrated prog metal purveyors Zero Hour. Apt comparisons between the Californian three-piece and acts such as Death and Animals as Leaders have been made, but when Abnormal Thought Patterns are at their most frenetic, they also share Blotted Science's aptitude for conjuring up aural insect swarms. Some of this stuff is guaranteed to make listeners' heads spin.Manipulation Through Anesthesia is ATP's debut full-length release, and it gets off to an excellent start, extending on the saga of the very first tracks they wrote, "Velocity and Acceleration" parts 1-4. These songs, numbered from 5 to 8, flow together as one connected work, clearly taking place in the same universe and containing shared motifs. It's 13 minutes of some of the finest instrumental metal out there. The album then takes a left turn in the form of "Calculating Patterns", a pleasant, jazzy cooldown. It is the first of several mellow tunes that demonstrate Abnormal Thought Patterns' diversity."Harmonic Oscillators", the album's most challenging cut in more ways than one, is also worth a mention. Here, the guys in Abnormal Thought Patterns lose themselves in mathemathics for the first and only time on the album. It's the type of song to make aspiring musicians seethe with envy and set their instrument of choice on fire, being a technical tour de force full of mindboggling time signatures and incredibly dexterous playing. It's also, again with the maths, the only 7+-minute song on an album where the average one clocks in at 4 minutes, and without changing the formular around much. For many, this all-out assault will no doubt be considered the highlight of the album. For others, it'll be a bit too much of a good thing.Speaking of the formular, ATP seems to have carved out a more than solid niche for itself already. Though the notes-per-minute count is oftentimes off the charts on Manipulation Under Anesthesia, the majority of its content manages to stay quite musical. The main event of their faster songs tend to be a heavy, hypnotic, repeated guitar riff, assisted by the always-very-audible bass humming surprisingly melodic tunes while the drums keep everything in place, usually prioritizing cymbal and snare patterns over flashy tom fills. On that note, the album is in no way lacking in heaviness or rhythmic depth despite foregoing the use of double kick drums. Quite an unusual feat in the shred-based instrumental metal environment.For anyone familiar with Zero Hour, it should come as no surprise that ATP succeeds in shredding with style. But there's a lot more to them than that. Abnormal Thought Patterns keep an excellent balance between all three instruments (which are occasionally joined by some light synth accompaniment), making sure there's always something worthwhile happening on several fronts, and they're able to impress even when venturing out of their comfort zone. Manipulation Through Anesthesia does lose a bit of steam towards the end, but is nonetheless an impressive album and a very promising debut." - Metal Revolution

Double live CD recorded on the 2010 US tour in support of The Incident.  The set includes a complete live performance of "The Incident" recorded in Chicago as well as additional material recorded at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Bulgaria doesn't immediately come to mind as a hot bed of musical activity but that is where Sensory made their latest discovery. In 2000, the band created their calling card to the progressive metal world a demo that was well received in the underground press. Affter a series of lineup changes the band set about recording their debut "Shade of Fate". The result is a tour de force of progressive metal that will appeal to fans of Dream Theater, Vanden Plas and Queensryche. Pantommind use gorgeous symphonic soundscapes as a backdrop for intricate keyboard solos, crunch-filled guitar riffs and pure soaring vocals. This is a band poised to capture the imagination of progressive metal fans around the world. Sensory's release of "Shade Of Fate" also features two exclusive bonus tracks.

A bit of a departure for the prog metal founders. Disconnected incorporates some of the in your face aggressiveness that Ray Alder explored on Engine with the proggier sounds of APSOG. Kind of a hit or miss affair. The high points really soar.