Great music, but the cd's are defective
sknight | NYC | 05/15/2005
(1 out of 5 stars)
"BEWARE- buy the album and enjoy it. The music is pretty good and well focused, but all of the cds are defective, with no idea from the band on when they will be reissued. Spoke to Chris in the band about it. Something about the masters being defective.
The issue is there are loud pops before every song.
As far as the music, it's crunchy, with good time changes, but flows very well at the same time. All of the instruments are clear and well placed. Archetype avoids flashiness and spiraling into nowhere, in favor of good melodies and smooth transitions. Too bad the pops exist on the cds, but if you're willing to deal with it, then get the album. Don't buy it new, however.
I would have rated the album with a four, and that's more like a 4.5, but the popping issue must be factored in. Reissuing the album seems to not be a possibility at this point, since it was just issued."
Incredible Album!
J. Doan | Dallas, Texas United States | 11/06/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Filled with complex, melodic, and catchy passages, this album is amazing from start to finish.
It takes the listener on a journey through maze-like riffs, reinforced by excellent solos and vocals coming from a slight power metal angle. The musicianship displayed by Archetype is exemplary. Listening to these guys pull off this detailed songwriting with such authority and precision is exhilarating!
Very well recorded, every instrument is given equal room to shine, though the bass guitar is slightly in the background, but that is to be expected.
An incredible progressive album on all points. If I were to describe this album in two words, they would be "catchy" and "technical". Assigning only one star to this album is unfair. There is a level of technical ability and songwriting here that must be given its due recognition. Very highly recommended!"
Great, crunching, guitar-driven prog Metal
Christpher Harvey | Tübingen | 03/04/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This is an excellent prog metal album from start to finish. Unlike many other prog metal acts, these guys can actually write a decent song and even their instrumentals are interesting and well-arranged. This should appeal to both those coming from the Dream Theater direction as well as those more into Thrash metal and bands like Metallica, since there are no keayboard, it's all intertwined, fast, driving guitars. The vocals are a very good too - almost a hybrid of Russel Allen of Symphony X and James LaBrie.
I'd also like to point out that the CD I got in Germany as issued by Limb music (I think that's the label) doesn't have the pops at the beginning of each song as stated below. Perhaps it's my CD player, but I've never had a problem playing this CD, although some of the songs turn into pure noise when I try to load them onto my MP3 player - I assume this must be beacause of the extreme playing time of this cd - over 80 minutes!"
Track Listings (13) - Disc #1