Artemisia

Sun Caged had an odd career, exploding into public consciousness with their glorious debut album and then immediately losing four members. By the time Artemisia came out, the band was unrecognizable, and this basically killed all their momentum and chance at wider exposure. You've really got to feel bad for Marcel Coenen - having the best players in the world bail on him, having to go from an Arjen Lucassen mix to self-mixing, etc. I guess it's impressive that he managed to finish a second Sun Caged album at all, but it ended up being pretty disappointing for a few reasons...

Firstly, the stylistic change is downright jarring, all the way from the music to the artwork. We've gone from machinery to a bland swamp, and the music follows suit. It's still complex keyboardy prog, but slower, mellower, less dramatic. At the same time, it's actually less atmospheric than before, so it's kind of a lose-lose. The space vibe is gone and replaced with... I don't know... Nothing? It doesn't evoke any particular imagery, which is probably a bad sign. If nothing else, I'll say that the guitars feel more rock-oriented in general, with quite a few clean parts, and the riffs tend to be fairly light. They try to chug sometimes, but the mix doesn't allow them to have any punch. There's still shreddy parts, but the songs don't make those into as much of an event as a shred solo ought to be. If it sounds kind of directionless, well, you're starting to understand the problem.

The bottom line is that the songs are meandering, bloated, and generally just dull. Really, no metal album needs to be longer than an hour, but especially not when every song is midtempo and averages seven minutes! It's seriously hard to pay attention to the whole thing, even if there are some good parts. Opener "Lyre's Harmony" is definitely the best of the bunch, with a cool Egyptian-sounding riff and tasty harmonies throughout. Even this song is sporting some worrying excess, but makes it through okay. "Bloodlines" has some epic parts and carries a little more urgency than the rest. Closing ballad "Doldrums" is my second favorite, but I didn't know that until I listened to it on its own, because by that point in the album I couldn't take another slow song! Everything that I didn't mention, I could do without. I specifically liked the first album because it had prog wankery without losing focus on the song structures - now we get stretched-out bridges and a random samba part. Damn it, we had a deal!

As far as the new lineup goes, it's a downgrade for the most part. The instrumentalists can all play well, but don't have individual styles that really reach out and grab you. Even Marcel Coenen, possibly the best lead guitarist in metal, just kind of spins his wheels (except that killer solo in Doldrums.) However, I would like to mention new vocalist Paul Adrian Villarreal, probably the most contentious element of Artemisia when it came out. He's not a typical metal singer at all, but rather a more smooth, reedy 70's prog type of vocalist. In my opinion, he's actually amazing, but not what was needed here - more belting and wailing would've at least forced some excitement into the album. In context, his more relaxed voice just contributes to Artemisia's sedative effect. He'll really come into his own on the next one, though...

What else is there to say? Aside from being in the wrong place at the wrong time, Artemisia just objectively has problems. It's one of the weirdest cases of ambitious arrangements turning out to be totally boring. They could've named it Amnesia, because I can't recall another album that resists memorization so hard. Hyuk hyuk chortle cough. Thankfully, Sun Caged stuck it out for a third album which would rival even the mighty debut... But it wouldn't undo the damage caused by this one.

Sometimes I wish people could be more realistic about themselves. That would single handedly solve all this 'reach being greater than your grasp' nonsense. It might also just make Sun Caged a better band. Right now, they seem to have this notion that almost none of their ideas can be expressed satisfactorily in under 6 and a half minutes, because out of a ten song album, seven take a minimum of that long to play out. Now that would have been fine if their notion had been accurate, as others have shown.

However, it's anything but. Songs wander around aimlessly, slowing down and picking up pace whenever they feel like it, parts are repeated ad nauseum and having to revisit this album almost becomes a chore. Nothing could scream 'edit' more, but I'm guessing obstinance on someone's part prevented that from happening. To be fair, there are several parts that sound great, most supplied by guitar whiz Marcel Coenen, but like the new Pagan's Mind, they're so spaced out that you could actually catch a nap in between them. Sometimes I do.

So it's no surprise that my favourite song off the album is the compatively lilliputian instrumental Engelbert the Inchworm, clocking in at 4 and a half minutes. It's not really anything all that special, but it's just a relief to have something enter, entertain and exit with brevity instead of reading you its life story. And what sadists! They have a an 8 minute song Departing Words some time in that gives you hope that it's all over, but then they follow it up with Doldrums, another 7 and a half minute venture. Why I'm in the doldrums is because this album hasn't fucking ended yet!

While it's evident that the members are skilled at the very least, Artemisia has left no impact on me. If the album were half its length with all the filler edited out, I'd grant it a 3, but as it stands, that's too much for this. The cover's also crap, too! Even if you love this kind of music, your time's much better invested in the new Mind's Eye or Circus Maximus.

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