UMUR
"Insights" is the debut full-length studio album by Dutch progressive metal act Lemur Voice. The album was released through Magna Carta Records in 1996. Lemur Voice was formed in 1993 under the Aura monicker but soon changed their name to Lemur Voice.
The music on the album is "classic" 90s progressive metal highly influenced by Dream Theater. I hear a few nods towards 90s Fates Warning, and the more rock oriented sound of Enchant too, but it is Dream Theater I´m reminded of most often during the 8 track, 56:57 minutes long album.
The music is generally very keyboard heavy, but also features some very intricate rhythmic playing (tempo- and time signature changes are played with natural ease), heavy riffs and melodic solos, and a high pitched lead vocalist in Gregoor van der Loo. The music is very dynamic with both heavy rhytmically complex chugging sections, and more subtle piano/vocal sections, and longer instrumental sections. The band are very well playing and Gregoor van der Loo is a relatively skilled singer too. His vocal melodies aren´t that memorable though, and even though the music on "Insights" is very melodic in nature, it actually features very few memorable hooks.
"Insights" is relatively well produced, but the longer you get into the album the less interesting the sound becomes. I´m not sure what it is, but it´s like the production at times lacks a bit of punch and the whole thing comes off as a little too polished and nice.
Upon conclusion "Insights" is a hard album to rate fairly. On the surface it´s easily a 4 star (80%) rating, because of the professionalism on display. The compositions, the musicianship, and the sound production are all features of a relatively high quality, but when you dig a bit deeper, the music is actually a bit more shallow than what initial impressions might reveal and the band also lack an original sound. Still it´s a relatively strong progressive metal release and hardcore fans of the genre might find it more enjoyable than I do, so a 3.5 star (70%) rating isn´t all wrong.