Stephen 'Impressive!' is the first word that popped in my mind as soon as I finish spinning LOST IN THOUGHT debut, 'Opus Arise' for the first time and it only took me another spin to fully appreciate the true talents this young band have and how they evolved from a huge DREAM THEATER influence. Deane Lazenby is even a clone of young James LaBrie and how Chris Billingham hits his drums, nothing that I can think of but Mike Portnoy's trademark style.

But they're not merely a copycat, I can sense some strong prog/power touch like in PAGAN'S MIND in their music, and since they're a young band, I'm pretty sure time will help push their growing skills to the max. Out of 8 tracks, my pick of the better tracks are 'Blood Red Diamond', a sweeping melodic intro and this is a less-prog straight forward metal pattern with an astounding great composition and the vocal part is really excellent; 'Delusional Abyss', again with a strong melodic start, it eventually erupted to an explosive prog tune; and the best track here is 'Lost In Thoughts', no shortage of awesomeness from the beginning to the end.

Another promising track here are 'Seek To Find' and 'Assimulate, Destroy', now the latter is interesting with a taste of India at the intro, it walks into a very mysterious atmosphere and packed with chugging heavy riffs. Duration were ranged from 5 - 7 minutes, now this is very good to provide a bridge to a non-hardcore progheads, because the music is also very melodic, I can see folks that into traditional heavy metal or casual progmetal fans might enjoy this one a lot and still they have enough space for instruments exploration but not dragged out too much.

The production is also great. I hope they will come up with a better result and more original in the second album, but not forgetting the melodic part which is their expertise as well. A nice debut and deserved to have at least 80%!

J-Man Though there is certainly no shortage of traditional prog metal bands out there, one could argue that there is a shortage of truly excellent prog metal bands on the modern scene. Lost in Thought, a young band from Wales formed in 2007, offers a major exception to that rule with their stellar debut album, Opus Arise. If traditional prog metal with a modern edge is your preferred genre, I'd recommend this one in a heartbeat. This isn't an album to blow you away with its originality, but the top-notch production, melodic hooks, and technical mastery should be enough to satisfy any progressive metal fan. This should be one of the finest albums that 2011 has to offer.

Lost in Thought plays a style of traditional progressive metal in the vein of Dream Theater, Pagan's Mind, and Vanden Plas. Opus Arise may not be the most groundbreaking album you'll ever come across, but it certainly is a fine example of modern prog metal done right. Every song here is extremely memorable and well-composed. This is an album that grabs you with its melodic hooks the first time around, and reveals its complexity and depth over repeated spins. Just listen to those fantastic vocals from Nate Loosemore in 'Beyond the Flames' - or even the entire album, for that matter. The man is simply a fantastic vocalist who frequently reminds me of a younger James LaBrie or Andy Kuntz. Musicianship-wise, Opus Arise is a winner across the board. These guys are clearly very talented virtuosos; there's no weak link here. Just listen to that fantastic keyboard work from Greg Baker, the near-impossible drum patterns from Chris Billingham, the technically outstanding solos from David Grey, and the rock-solid bass work from Rhys Anslow. Lost in Thought is simply a joy to listen to, and the fantastic songwriting surely gives these virtuosos plenty of time to shine.

As odd as this may sound, one of my favorite things about Opus Arise is the production. This comment isn't at all downplaying the other elements of the album, but more-so accentuating how terrific this album sounds. The clean, modern sound still manages to inject plenty of emotion and power that's expressed through Lost in Thought's music. Kudos to Jacob Hansen for giving this album such an outstanding production!

Opus Arise is a terrific debut from Lost in Thought - it's hard to imagine that such great heights were reached this early in the band's career. I absolutely adore this album and will be keeping a close eye on them in the coming years. A very enthusiastic 4 - 4.5 stars are deserved for Opus Arise. This is among the best prog metal albums that the United Kingdom has to offer.

The Block Over the past couple of years the progressive metal scene has been over run with Dream Theater clones. And eventually I thought they would all go away since many newer, and sometimes better, bands were popping up. But it seems that they will never go away. Not saying that I don’t like Dream Theater clones, I do like some of them, but can’t bands be a bit more original? Dream Theater is one of my favorite bands because I like their style and their sound so I find it hard to dislike a band that sounds similar to them. Lost in Thought is one of those bands. They have a great sound, but almost no originality. Hailing from the United Kingdom, “Opus Arise” is their first full length album and it has some very sections, but what they have in musicianship they lack in originality.

Already I seem to be beating a dead horse with this originality issue, but it’s one of those things that I think is a key element in music. It is amazing, though, how well Deane Lazenby copies James Labrie’s voice. Whether it is by accident or not, right off the bat you can tell it. ‘Beyond the Flames’ starts out with a signature Dream Theater guitar and bass riff that soon transfers into some good singing by Deane Lazenby. Even the song structures remind me of Dream Theater. The counter rhythms and melodies are exactly like Dream Theater’s down to the last note. While Lost in Thought has lots of skill, namely guitarist David Grey, their lack of originality kills them.

Lost in Thought seems to bridge all of Dream Theater’s albums on “Opus Arise”. ‘Beyond the Flames’ could be taken straight out of Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence while songs like ‘New Times Awaken’ and ‘Lost in Thoughts’ could easily be taken off Dream Theater’s newer albums. The drumming on this album doesn’t even come close to Mike Portnoy’s, but Chris Billingham tries, especially on ‘Lost in Thoughts’ were the drums sound just like the ones used on ‘Pull Me Under’.

The production is especially good, with a warm 70’s prog style to it.

While “Opus Arise” features some great musicianship, it takes a downfall because of its lack of originality. This album would’ve been an easy 4 star album if Lost in Thought could’ve found their own style. With their talent, Lost in Thought can easily make a much better and more original release in the future, but for now they get 3.5 stars.

cennsor [review originally published on http://thecennsor.wordpress.com/]

Let’s be honest: I do like this album, and I do think British Lost in Thought have a lot of potential they’re already exploiting to some measure of success. Furthermore, there’s no band without influences, and sometimes it’s just hard to conceal them – provided the band’s out to prove they have their own style and so on, and emerging acts like Lost in Thought usually do.

What kind of annoys me is when the influences are there for anyone to hear, and there’s still people trying so hard to deny it.

Lost In Thought may not be “just another Dream Theater clone” in the ever-expanding galaxy that contains them all, but that they play in the very same vein as the much acclaimed American band is a pure fact. Not only; some echoes are blatant (just check out the opening track, Beyond the Flames, or Lost In Thoughts‘ final section) as if cut straight off from a Dream Theater pre-Black Clouds record.

If truth be told, the power metal cloaking Lost in Thought veil their songs with can sometimes be deceiving. The resulting sound is heavier than Dream Theater‘s, and somewhat (feel free to read “far” instead) less complex. The choir on Assimulate, Destroy comes immediately to mind as an instance of that. Then again, a very much (DT‘s) Home-like section slams the evident truth in your face again: the band’s main influence hangs all over the place, from not-so-carefully hidden to simply manifest.

On the other side, an undoubtedly skilled musicianship, the good sound quality, and bits of well-channelled imagination do play in Lost In Thought‘s favour. True creativity is lacking, but some could argue that’s a much more general issue going much further than this album/band. Here, the revisitation of the American prog heroes’ work gets cleverly combined with a personal touch, or different influcences atleast. Blood Red Diamond comes very close to some of Dutch “symphonic” power metallers Delain‘s stuff, as also Delusional Abyss does to some extent (I couldn’t bother checking which songs exactly, but you can trust me on that).

What can be said in Lost in Thought‘s “defence” (by the way, no-one’s accusing anyone, this just being a worn out listener and music explorer’s two cents), and helps this review’s rating go a bit higher, is this: the guys are young, this is just their debut (besides an EP no-one heard of before anyway) and they come from the United Kingdom. Not to deny that land’s just as good as any when it comes to musical talent, but it’s no Scandinavia after all, and it’s also not like prog metal (with a stress on “metal”) has a long, lasting tradition over there. So, that they managed to put such a debut album together is already worth some praise, or encouragement atleast. Plus: it won’t hurt anybody’s ears to give this stuff a listen; just set aside your desdain for Dream Theater heavily influenced acts and you’ll actually enjoy Opus Arise.

THUS SPAKE THE CENNSOR: All in all, Opus Arise is well written and executed, if perhaps a bit ill-conceived (if, and I’m taking it that was the case, the band’s intent was to dissimulate the aforementioned influences). The end result is a pleasant listen to all fans of prog-power, especially for those who don’t mind a rest in a progster’s everlasting quest for “original” and non-recycled music, to settle for a semi-clone that can still provide some 50 minutes of none too complex prog. 6/10