J-Man
In The Name was an obscure progressive metal band from Toronto, having only released this single self-titled album in 1995 before disappearing into oblivion. The band was originally known as Kingsbane, and later as Seven Years, before changing their name to In The Name - if we're counting the releases under those two names, you can also find two demo releases from this lineup. Either way, In The Name is the only official release from this moniker; a bit of a shame considering all of the great things on this debut effort. While this may not one of the best progressive metal albums from the mid-nineties', it's a sadly forgotten obscurity that should be heard by all enthusiasts of the genre. I'm certainly glad to have lent an ear to this hidden gem.
While a fair amount of progressive metal is focused on long, epic compositions with dominant keyboards and bombastic arrangements, In The Name instead focuses on creating short, complex, and catchy compositions. Only one song here exceeds the seven-minute mark, and many of the others tend to average around the five-minute mark. There are lots of quirky complexities, acoustic guitars, and even jazzy solos, but the biggest focus of this album is on accessible and well-composed pieces. In that regard, I'm frequently reminded of Fates Warning (especially their Parallels album), Psychotic Waltz, and Queensryche. In The Name's keyboard-less approach to progressive metal was becoming increasingly unpopular towards this half of the nineties', and I personally love the raw edge that their guitar-based approach provides. The mix of undistorted electric guitars, heavy-edged riffs, and even a fair amount of acoustic guitar is much more powerful than one may imagine, and even though In The Name comes across slightly derivative of Psychotic Waltz and Fates Warning, I still really appreciate their back-to-basics musical approach. These lads are also gifted songwriters, and that shines throughout the vast majority of this rather long album. Songs like "Endless Night", "Dead of Winter", "Gypsy's Night", and the acoustic "Shame" are especially easy to pick out, but I honestly love most of this album. The last 3 songs, which appear to be re-recorded versions of songs on the Kingsbane demo (the sound quality sounds a lot better here than it does on the demo), are also pretty excellent.
In The Name hardly offered anything new to the progressive metal scene with this debut, but they did deliver a batch of great songs that are certainly worthy of your attention. It's really a shame that this album has been entirely forgotten by the sands of time - I'd have a tough time imagining a fan of Psychotic Waltz and Fates Warning not having an absolute blast with this gem. While the production is a bit muddy and the music isn't anything groundbreaking, this is an excellent example of great musicians delivering some damn impressive prog metal music. I'd say a 3.5 - 4 star rating is well deserved for this sadly ignored beauty. If you like classic progressive metal and haven't heard this, I'd recommend changing that if you can find a reasonably priced copy. Though not flawless, this is a truly great album - I can only imagine what would've happened had the band not split so quickly.