The Inner Circle of Reality

When i listen to this CD, i try to convince myself that Time Requiem is one of the strongest competitors in the prog metal scene, and not once have i succeeded. The "key" factor that makes Time Requiem stand behind other prog metal bands is, ironically, the "key"boards.

You'll feel like there are absolutely no guitars at all in this band. 95% of the solos are repetitive and synthetic keyboard-driven. It's annoying even for me: a keyboard player. Richard Anderson acts in Time Requiem just like Luca Turilli in Rhapsody. You know, Luca writes the lyrics, the songs, the melodies, the orchestration, the solos, the bass lines, the keyboard lines... Anderson does the same, but instead of lyrics, songs, melodies, orchestration, bass and guitar lines, you have keyboard, keyboard, and more keyboard. I'm not questioning his ability of playin' it, he's quite a keyboardist, but how'd you feel in a band where the guitars were nothing but secondary instruments, and everything, from the main riffs and leads to the 4-minute-long solos?!

This album, despite it's flaws, is not a bad album. Songs are catchy and the vocal work is awesome (just check Unleashed in Japan). But i recommend it only to the prog metal maniacs with a fetish for cocky keyboardists.

This is Time Requiem second release, and it shows a huge development in terms of melodies, harmonies and songwriting, regarding the debut album.
The Inner Circle Of Reality introduces to the listener a perfect mix between tradicional melodic power metal, neo-classical (in lots of moments Yngwie Malmsteen comes to mind) and high quality progressive metal.
In terms of instrumentation, Richard Andersson (keyboardist - the owner of the whole thing) gives his best: refined keyboard arrangements and soloing in quite evidence, which is his trademark. But, despite he is one of the best metal keyboardists ever, there are some solos here that sound very alike.
Jonas Reingold (very good bassist), Apolo Papathanasio (vocals), Magnus Nord (guitar) and Zoltan Csorsz (drums) make with Richard, a very tight line up.
The songs on this release are very different from each other. " Reflections" is just an awesome track, straight melodic power metal, with maybe the best keyboard solo ever. The second track, who gives the name to the album, is progressive, very well done and performed. In fact, on this track you can hear like a resume of the whole CD. The thing goes by like this untill the end, each song bringing another element, showing something else.
If you appreciate power metal with some progressive parts, this release is for you. If you are a metal keyboardist, stop doing what you are doing now, and go get yourself this album.