Artension
Into The Eye Of The Storm

There are many other albums with this title, see Brazen Abbot, Andy Snitzer, Beneficence, Empyreal, Neurosis, and who knows how many others. Artension released seven albums between 1996 and 2006. What piqued my curiosity about them were the covers of their albums. Although I've heard very good things about their latest album Future World [2004], I wanted to get and listen to their first work: "Into The Eye Of The Storm", also because there aren't many reviews about it online. I thought they were a typically power group, but they are not; their genre (at least as far as this first work is concerned) is a nice "Neoclassic", something therefore more refined and elaborate. Being also typically Prog, with its listening we don't engage in the usual hard-hitting double pedal, but in a drum that tends more to create a precise sound rather than stand out, and instead of the castrato voice and typical priest choirs, there is instead a beautiful Heavy Metal voice; melodic speed is present in fantastic solos but it's a bit more complex and technical. In short, there is at the base a decent pomp rock, and the songs have a well-studied skeleton. Other things to note are that sometimes the guitars are highlighted as thrash, and certainly it is also noteworthy that for being the band's first album, it's not bad. The singer John West also sings for Royal Hunt, bassist Kevin Chown works for Mike Terrana, and the drummer is easily recognizable in Axel Rudi Pell and Rage albums.

The first song, "World Of Illusion" is a real blast, it starts light and calm, bass keyboard and drums draw a tranquil and mystical atmosphere, it progresses in an ever more lively way, and the solo piece is fluid, well-done and fun, in particular, the keyboards create a beautiful sound. "Into The Eye Of The Storm" follows, from which the entire album takes its name, here the keyboard surely plays an important role, placing the song in a "metallic psychedelic" background, the typically Hard Rock hoarse and shouted voice of the singer moves well within the sound vortex created by the various solos. The sound is halfway between the raw world of heavy hard rock and the colorful sphere of the melodic. A bass game announces "Smoke And Fire", a song that at first seems to be a cover of some work by Deep Purple or better yet Led Zeppelin, because it is very retro and contains the original essence of authentic hard rock, drums and bass play the background to the keyboard (keyboard in Deep Purple style) which attacks with a solo that until the last second of the song leaves everyone open-mouthed (it's beautiful). It's time for "The Wind And The Rain", here the voice plays a double game, because sometimes it raises significantly in tone, and other times it almost seems to speak; the atmospheres accentuate their mysticism, the air is always metallic psychedelic, during the solos each instrument takes different paths creating a chilling sound. "Lost Memory" presents itself with a classic piano start but soon develops in a mixed context between melodic power and a heavy metal ballad, in which the instruments play well with synchronization. Then comes "The Key", a calm and very melodic piece in which very beautiful and particular solos stand out, "Song Of The Desert" instead is a very fast track accompanied by powerful keyboards. The album also offers a fantastic special piece, "Red's Recovery", which being instrumental, for seven minutes offers fantastic solos and truly well-done technical games. "Let it Ride" is also a fast song with spectacular composition. Last, but not of importance, "I Don't Care" is a song composed with the piano, a monstrously beautiful song, it makes one reflect on how an instrument of such class as the piano can represent mystical atmospheres so perfectly.

What can I say, hyper-technical album, fast, with certain slightly retro veins, and with a keyboardist that every track really impresses. I was very pleased with the album purchase and I highly recommend it to Power lovers who are looking for something specific and particular to listen to.