LYDIAN SEA — Lydian Sea (review)

LYDIAN SEA — Lydian Sea album cover Album · 2001 · Progressive Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
2.5/5 ·
J-Man
Lydian Sea is a melodic progressive metal band from Chicago, Illinois that has unfortunately slipped under the radar by most fans of the genre. A bit of a shame actually, since their sound on this self-titled debut album should be right up the alley of prog metal purists. Lydian Sea displays a strong influence from the likes of Fates Warning and Queensrÿche on this debut, and while this is certainly not a unique release by any stretch of the imagination, it's a competent enough debut from these American lads. While I am not yet familiar with the Lydian Sea's later releases to see if they've gained a more original approach over time, this is a good album with an abundance of catchy hooks, intricate musicianship, and memorable choruses.

The music on Lydian Sea is best described as a cross between Fates Warning, Queensrÿche, and Dream Theater, but I'd say the album most heavily relies on the intricate melodic heavy metal formula of Fates Warning's Parallels. Most of the songs here are rather straightforward and chorus-based, yet the intricate musicianship keeps it from ever sounding quite like a standard melodic metal album. While there are plenty of catchy choruses and impressive instrumental showcases on Lydian Sea, my biggest gripe is that it hardly brings anything to the table that hasn't been done dozens of times before. This is a very 'safe' release that does little to establish Lydian Sea from your average twenty-first century progressive metal act with little more to offer than what Fates Warning did back in 1991. The production isn't too great either, and the sound is a bit too muddy for my tastes. While certainly not horrible, the production does come across as a bit amateurish to these ears. Thankfully, the songwriting is generally pretty solid, and the nine-minute "Infinite Journey" is actually an excellent composition to these ears.

This can best be described as a promising debut, but not a whole lot more than that. Lydian Sea established themselves as competent musicians and capable songwriters without much to offer in the creativity department - listening to future albums will determine whether or not the band gained their own identity later on in their career. As far as this album is concerned, it's a decent but entirely non-essential debut that's only recommended to fans of the band and forgotten melodic progressive metal releases. This is average in nearly every sense of the word, so 2.5 - 3 stars would be a pretty appropriate score. While my reaction has been rather lukewarm, I am curious to hear what Lydian Sea has to offer on future efforts.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

The Goblin Sessions Heavy Metal
THEM
Buy this album from MMA partners
Tormenta De Arena Metalcore
VORAGO
Buy this album from MMA partners
Infinite Metalcore
FUTURE GHOST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Heretic Melodic Death Metal
SUNCINDER
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Skull Burned Wearing Hell Like A Life Vest As The Night Wept Mathcore
FRONTIERER
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Future Ghost - Wolves (Official Music Video)
FUTURE GHOST
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Future Ghost - Nemesis Game (Official Music Video)
FUTURE GHOST
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Harrowed TwentyTenVideo
HARROWED
Bosh66· 3 days ago
Sunmancer - Realms of Dilemma (Official Visualizer)
SUNMANCER
Bosh66· 8 days ago
Sunmancer - Lower Cavalier (Official Visualizer)
SUNMANCER
Bosh66· 8 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed