Somewhat reminds me of the Canvas Solaris album I have, but way less progressive and less metal. Definitely some kind of vaguely progmetal flavored post rock. There isn't immediately any component of the writing here that doesn't seem overwhelmingly familiar to me. They can't be accused of originality, that's for sure. Every pretty guitar lead ringing away in the background, every riff and chord progression... it all feels exceedingly "been there, done that" to me.
I wrote that after only 5 tracks of 13 and if this line is still there when I post, it's because the remaining 8 songs did nothing to better that impression.
I'm always paying a lot of attention to how an album sounds in terms of production, mixing, the exact sounds and effects used for each intrument, etc. Sometimes, when the music gets busy, I find that the cymbal in one speaker sounds strikinly much like just a load of soft, static hissing. I can't say it sounds good to me at all. There's more clarity to how other aspects of the music is represented, but there is a certain cold and harsh quality to it that doesn't serve the generally melodic and soft music well. Some more warmth and a less modern metal style production would have served the album well.
Sometimes those guitars sound incredibly much like that Canvas Solaris album I own. I said that already, but it really hits me again whenever certain sounds come back. I wonder if there's a whole subset of this genre where everyone has guitars that sound exactly like this.
Sometimes tracks bleed into each other without me noticing the shift. At other times, a song will sound like it changes to an entirely different song, but it's just a new segment of the same song. Can't say the compositions seem all that cohesive or memorable. I guess what bothers me the most is how every song has almost the exact same vibe. I guess this is good if you're in a mood where you crave a very specific atmosphere, but it makes for a pretty repetitive album listening experience.
Basically, this album is quite listenable, but it really isn't coming close to setting my world on fire.
Don't think I have any interest in seeing if that other album is any better. The band doesn't really demonstrate much creativity here, so I guess I don't really feel like their band needs to exist. Yikes! That's harsh, but you know what I mean.
They know their way around their instruments, it's just that the material is a bit bland.
5/10
PS: Around 8:30 in track 6, something moderately exciting happened for a moment, but that's not a whole lot to recommend the album by.
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