The compositional process for this album saw mastermind Finn Zierler venturing into new territory, by composing in 3 different stages: in total solitude looked in an attic, submerged under water in a cold lake and living on the dark streets of London-town while writing the material.
Apart from being very humorous, perhaps this quote from the promo material explains why this album sounds so much different than anything else I have heard before.
This is the second album under the banner of
Beyond Twilight and I surely hope it will be far from the last one.
I have always been willing to praise bands that choose different forms of expression and creativity, willing to reach new horizons and create something unique. After intense listening rounds of Section X, I can with certainty place this band in that category.
Sure I can hear minor aspects that somehow remind me of bands like Psychotic Waltz, Eternity X, Ayreon, Dream Theater, Pain Of Salvation and Crimson Glory, but rest assured that this is more a fact of the common denominator of them all being very progressive acts than anything else.
Something that strikes me about this release is the level of compactness, it's "only" a good 44 minutes but man is there plenty of stuff to discover and figure out in this cornucopia of wild wonders.
The Path Of Darkness slowly opens its doors into a paranoid and haunting world, having a brilliant melodic chorus working as a cool contrast to an otherwise very gloomy mood.
Singer Kelly Sundown Carpenter's diverse and in every aspect fantastic vocal abilities show themselves from the start. He really puts his special mark on this record.
Next up we find
Shadow Self and here we have yet another intriguing song filled with tons of progressive elements. The great technical drums take up a central position and the extensive and spellbinding key passage is also immensely interesting and cool, the tame ending is not that successful though.
Sleeping Beauty intelligently mixes a jamming approach with aggressive outburst; I come to think of Pain Of Salvation a bit here, it has the same kind of wonderful weirdness to it.
The bass works creatively and offers some cool grooves and a special mention must also go to the clever piano and lead guitar collaboration.
We continue our sombre journey with
The Dark Side; Kelly's intense vocal parts almost scare me in this one, which only shows he gets it right. Heavy riffs and a complex rhythm section makes this one very durable and you have to be on your marks to follow this one from start to finish without loosing track of what's going on.
Portrait F In Dark Waters is a short piano driven track and one of the best instrumentals I have ever come across. It changes direction and atmosphere all the time and I'm left in wonder, main man Finn Zierler really knows a thing or two about handling his instrument.
The lengthy
Ecstasy Arise has many progressive gems to offer the listener, apart from a stunning and varied structure we also get eccentric key wizardry and innovative guitar leads. The relaxed chorus is pretty good but I do miss something more memorable to keep the track a bit more close-knit.
Section X has a unique depressingly hypnotic aura, partly thanks to the slow refrain that is just incredible moving. Some compelling guitar soloing and vigorous drumming expand the track's frontier and gentle underlying piano tunes give it yet another layer.
All parts of the musical performance is very professional and at a high technical level. Production-wise things are also looking good, a unique result is archived through a dark, raw and well-mixed sound.
The album is a concept story about a man who unfolds the mysteries of the human brain, engages in cloning and becomes mad in the process of taking over other peoples minds and bodies, sounds weird? Well it is, but it also offers some interesting issues and it matches the dramatic musical landscape very well; the dark atmospheres, intense vocal performances and strange sounds fit the story line in a remarkable way.
Symphonic, dramatic, mad, over the top, ingenious, mysterious and gloomy are all words that help describe this unique piece of thrilling art.
Written by
Tommy Wednesday, April 6, 2005
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