|
|
|
Album Reviews
# of "Main" reviews: 359 (mean score: 8.5)
# of additional "User" reviews: 547
|
http://www.aztecjade.com/
Origin: USA
(New York)
Originally named Sidewinder when formed in 1992, New York's Aztec Jade seemed to drift on the edges of the prog metal scene for several years without ever really breaking through. The band released a handful of albums and appeared on a couple of tribute discs before disappearing after their 2002 release Concrete Eden. Early in 2004, the band was reportedly looking for a new singer, but as of the time of writing this (December 2005), there has been no recent news out of the Aztec Jade camp.
|
|
Paradise Lost (2000)
B 8.3
|
Following a change of record labels, Paradise Lost is pretty much just a re-release of Aztec Jade's Modern Prophet (1995) and Frame of Mind (1998), the band's only two albums when they signed on to Adrenaline Records in 2000. The disc does come in special digipack packaging, however, and contains the song "Regatta Fugue Part I" from their original 1994 demo. I picked up this CD without knowing much about the group: cool band name, cool cover art, and a few descriptions of the band being "song-oriented prog metal". For whatever reason, even based on limited information like this, I had high expectations for the album. Sadly, those expectations weren't really met. The music is indeed song-oriented, and sports a congenial Kansas-meets-Fates Warning sound and style. However, the songs are not just short (averaging about 4:15), but also suffer from being a little too repetitive -- both within each particular song and from song-to-song. In very un-Kansas-like and un-Fates Warning-like fashion, there's a real lack of diversity and dynamics throughout the album. Alluring, spirited gems like "Atlantis", "Regatta Fugue Part II", "Modern Prophet", and "Odyssey" are the exceptions, but the other 13 songs (!) on the album make showings that are respectable but not all that memorable. As you might expect from the length of the songs, flashy solos and extended instrumentals are not the band's style; but make no mistake about it, their use of keyboards and odd rhythms definitely puts them in the prog category. Lyrics might be considered relatively unusual, often using subjects of world history to show a different side of "intelligent lyrics". This sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. In the end, I applaud the band for not being afraid to revive the lost art of writing short tunes in the world of progressive rock/metal, but aside from a few songs, I didn't come away with much to cling to here. (12/31/2005)
|
|
|
|
