UNIVERSE EFFECTS — In the Haze That Surrounds Us (review)

UNIVERSE EFFECTS — In the Haze That Surrounds Us album cover Album · 2015 · Progressive Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
rdtprog
This is the first CD from this Quebec band that was formed in 2012 as an instrumental band. This is another band that has been influenced by the legendary Dream Theater in the overall sound, in some song structures and with some guitar work. Those musicians demonstrate a lot of skills with their instruments throughout this CD. Fortunately, their is some moments where the acoustic guitar of Gabriel Antoine Vallee, the piano of Francis Gregoire and some intense vocals gives us a breather in this wall of sound and display of technique. We have many guitar and keyboards solos but the band manage to create a nice atmosphere, except for the song "Tormented" who is the weakest track of the album. I didn't hear many influences from Progressive Rock bands, maybe only in the bass sound that sometimes is reminiscent of Spock's Beard, in the instrumental song "The Artifact", for example. We can hear also some Joe Satriani guitar style in this song. The songs has enough lengths to show many rhythm changes at different pace which allow the transition between electric instrumentation and acoustic guitar and a lot of piano. "Into the Haze That Surround Us" is going over that Dream Theater shadow by creating something different, slowing things down and bringing the best vocals parts of the CD. But the strongest parts of it all is the trilogy suite at the end (30 minutes), The first part "Entropy" has the most heavy guitar riffs of the album. It is followed by a brilliant ballad and some beautiful melody with some impressive acoustic guitar. The drums are for the first time here very quiet letting the space to the vocals and the acoustic guitar. In the final parts of that trilogy, the band is like the title say "Out of the Darkness" with some dynamics parts where you can hear again the theme and melody of the previous parts. The band is back with some of the heavy guitar riffs of "Entropy".

This is a very good Progressive Metal album comparable to some great bands with some great musicianship, including a solid rhythm section. The vocals are not their strong feature here, but that doesn't ruined the high level quality of the songwriting.
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