Certif1ed
A highly polished, nicely produced offering here, with some superb musicianship on display in the intro to the song Fever. This song pans out as a kind of Rush/Budgie hybrid, replete with high-vibrato, ear-piercing falsettos and powerful screams.
The guitar solo is over a kind of progressive transition, albeit based on 4 chords - and the song as a whole has a progressive flavour, with singing, chorused guitar lines and somewhat OTT drum fills.
Flip the single, and it's more of the same - which in this case is a good thing. A flanged bass and chorused guitar give a clear Neo-Prog sound, somewhere between Marillion, Twelfth Night and Rush. Again, the vocals are strong competitors to Geddy Lee - in fact, I'd say they were a bit stronger than Geddy's.
This changes 1:48 into the song, where it gets a bit heavier, but we're spun off into tempo changes and build ups for some quite decent Heavy Neo Prog Metal. Now there's a mouthful.
The guitarist takes the opportunity to throw in a few neat flourishes and flurries, the bass remains absolutely rock solid whilst meandering around some quite florrid lines, and the drummer keeps the fills in check for a near-perfect little piece.
Definitely one for fans of Neo Prog, Rush, and the more refined side of the NWoBHM - not for headbangers.
Very nearly a masterpiece - it's really hard to find fault with it, excepting that, if you were "there" for the NWoBHM, you would say "It's not really metal". But with hindsight, it's at the very root of Progressive Metal, and therefore just as valid as Venom - and much better crafted.