ZERO HOUR — A Fragile Mind (review)

ZERO HOUR — A Fragile Mind album cover Album · 2005 · Progressive Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
UMUR
"A Fragile Mind" is the 3rd full-length studio album by US, California based progressive metal act Zero Hour. The album was released through Sensory Records in September 2005. It´s the successor to "The Towers of Avarice" from 2001 and features one lineup change since the predecessor as lead vocalist Erik Rosvold has been replaced by Fred Marshall. The Tipton-brothers are still there on guitars and bass, and so is drummer Mike Guy.

Stylistically the lead vocalist change hasn´t affected the music that much, as Marshall has a voice and singing style which is quite similar to Rosvold´s ditto, although I personally think the latter is able to sing with more passion and conviction than the former (it´s details though). "A Fragile Mind" is still quite a different sounding release to its dark sci-fi story technical/progressive metal predecessor, which is quickly apparent from reading the lyrics which deal with mental illness/depression. We´re still in dark subject matter lyric territory, but far from the sci-fi story telling of the predecessor. The instrumental part of the music is technical/progressive metal featuring complex rhythms, fast and very busy guitar/bass parts, heavy riffs, and melodic but also slightly more aggressive vocal parts. The heavy and technical late 90s/early 00s releases by Fates Warning are not the worst references (also because of the dynamic nature of the music, which in addition to the heavy and complex parts also feature more mellow and atmospheric parts), but Zero Hour are generally a bit more focused on technical playing and in that respect they are closer in style to artists like Watchtower and Sieges Even, although they ultimately sound very little like the influences.

"A Fragile Mind" features a powerful, heavy, and detailed sounding production, which suits the material perfectly. Troy Tipton´s unique bass playing has always been one of the defining elements of Zero Hour´s sound, and the bass has been given a prominent but at the same time well balanced place in the mix. Definitely a good production choice. "A Fragile Mind" is overall a very heavy release and also quite a bit more heavy than what you´d normally expect from a progressive metal release, but that´s one of the great assets of Zero Hour. They skillfully combine heaviness, melody, and technically complex riffs and rhythms with what sounds like ease. The material are generally strong, varied, and intriguing (listen to the hardedged and heavy "Brain Surgery", the 11 minutes long title track or the closing atmospheric instrumental "Intrinsic" for proof of diversity), and upon conclusion "A Fragile Mind" is another high quality release by Zero Hour. It´s not quite as original nor as groundbreaking as "The Towers of Avarice (2001)", but it´s still a quality technical/progressive metal release and a 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.
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