Timeless Realm

Another review of another mediocre metal band, this time slotting with disappointing ease into the established softer side of modern progressive metal. The debut from Brazil's Akashic sounds similar to many other bands playing this melodic strand of prog, which is based more on traditional song structures and instrumentation with only a little in the way of extended solo sections and a couple of jarring time shifts to demonstrate its progressive credentials, and ultimately ends up sounding like a combination of a bland Threshold, a sub-par Symphony X and a poor man's Shadow Gallery, the latter of which is really saying something.

Despite the band's origins in the technically-oriented 'solo' band of guitarist Marcos De Ros, the fret theatrics are toned down considerably for this more mainstream release, based primarily in fairly simple, chugging riffs reminiscent of Symphony X, eventually complimented by brief, neo-classical solos reminiscent of Symphony X. Drummer Mauricio Meinert doesn't particularly stand out at the back, in contrast to the arguable over-reliance on Éder Bergozza's keyboards as a lead instrument, featuring almost as prominently as the guitars despite mainly focusing on slightly annoying twinkly melodies and, on occasion, some seriously sub-Symphony X solos. Singer Rafael Gubert carries out most of his performance in a melodic, almost poppy manner similar to Threshold in the less prestigious era under Mac, but occasionally veers into metal territory with a slightly angrier snarl that chiefly brings to mind Russell Allen of a band whose name you can probably guess. It has an X in it. Last but surprisingly not least is Fábio Elves, whose bass guitar work has been toned down a little from his tenure in De Ros but who still gets a couple of nice lead moments in the last couple of tracks, almost as if he wanted to snag a mention in my review. Well done.

Gubert's voice isn't a bad aspect of the album, and in fact fits in very well with the melodic direction, but it's the stale sound itself that I have the real gripes with; the instruments are merely competent for the most part, and it feels like every song is stretched far beyond its natural end point into over-repetition and, less commonly, unnecessary attempts to prove the band's proginess that don't really convince. Only a few songs come in short of five minutes, and these tend to be the better ones, though the epic centrepiece 'Memories,' despite only really being epic in terms of length, manages to encourage a more thoughtful and interesting performance from all concerned in this otherwise inoffensively bland release. With so many superior prog metal albums out there following this same commercial direction (as opposed to bands pursuing a more interesting, avant-garde direction or just those interested in replicating the showmanship of Dream Theater), this album can only end up seeming a little pointless, with its obvious ballads and slightly dodgy lyrics. Still, there's only so many times you can listen to Threshold's sci-fi stories, and it does have a pleasant front cover doesn't it?

There are a couple of different styles present on this album, neither of which will come as a surprise to anyone with preconceptions of a soft prog metal album, or indeed any rock album in general. Nothing's too fast to cross over into the prog-power style of fellow Brazilians Angra, and the progressive influence never takes over to the point of inaccessibility or songs that take a while to grow on you. That said, it will probably take several listens to fully appreciate this album simply because it tends to wash over the listener in its repetition, but those repeated listens are better spent elsewhere. Most of these songs are based in simple power chords and hard riffs to make them sufficiently 'metal,' though there's nothing too heavy here, and every so often a piano ballad comes along to spoil things, most notably the weak point of the album in 'Dove.'

Fitting to their spirit of obviousness and predictability, each song's direction can be correctly deduced simply by reading the title: the more fantasy- and mythology-based 'Voices and Signs,' 'The Fire of Temptation' and 'Gates of Firmament' sound like Symphony X off-cuts and are suitably the slightly heavier, shorter, more energetic and consequently best offerings. 'For Freedom' and 'Who Am I?' are softer and keyboard-led, with peacefully plucking guitars and heroic, anthemic choruses, acceptably catchy in a breezy sort of way but overdosing on the keys, while the aforementioned 'Dove' and 'Veiled Secrets' take this one step further into more traditional and tedious ballads. The odd-ones-out are opener 'Heaven's Call' and 'Memories,' which squeeze in some tempo changes and further solo spots in an attempt to improve the album's prog credibility, and thankfully both are pretty good, if negatively affected by the additional length required. The problem with these more experimental sections are that they present an otherwise non-existent barrier to the album's acceptance as radio-friendly rock, which it was never really going to be anyway, though it would at least have been effective as generic background music.

Akashic is a rather disappointing direction for the skilled musicians formerly of De Ros, and grateful as I am that they spared the world another Dream Theater clone, they merely took the similarly uninspired direction of a Threshold sound-alike. The band's second album 'A Brand New Day,' released in 2005, seems to have tackled the issue of unnecessary song length, but it remains to be seen whether the band has truly progressed to a point where their sound has become their own.