BlackLight

Unfortunately, this review is terribly sparse and, on the surface, seems “rushed,” which does not do justice to an album that, as a long-time fan of both prog-death and prog-rock, as well as Opeth, I still struggle to fully absorb after several dozen listens.
Regarding the album…I’ll reserve some more time before passing judgment. After all, it took me quite a few listens to fully appreciate the masterpiece that turned out to be Ghost Reveries (and even then, I couldn’t grasp that half/full misstep of Watershed after dozens of listens). I greatly appreciated the sounds heavily influenced by King Crimson, for sure. And let’s not forget—counting a certain Robert Fripp among your influences, while reinterpreting experimental 70s prog in a modern way, is not something everyone can pull off. To all those who say “Enough with this 40-year-old prog,” I respond that the progressive experimentation of Fripp and his mates was light-years ahead at the time, and it still is today, and it has never really been concluded. Having Fripp as a muse is not the same as being inspired by Britney Spears. Beyond this discussion…I feel a lot of prog technique in this album, many ideas, many good structures, many influences, but it lacks that little extra something to truly resonate with me, as albums like Blackwater Park, Damnation, and Ghost Reveries did. And I’m not even discussing the abandonment of growls and death metal influences here…Akerfeldt is someone who could flawlessly perform a song about the sun, in falsetto, while wearing a tutu and with his balls crushed by a nutcracker. But in my opinion, here it lacks that connective thread that transforms a great album into one that you won’t take out of your CD player for the next six months, as Opeth have accustomed us to. I will reserve a couple more listens to confirm this judgment.

I haven't listened to this work yet, but I happened to listen to Circling Around The Universe, and it's truly remarkable (it's the only one I managed to find because it's available for free download from last.fm; the other albums are nowhere to be found even on Amazon and their own website). It’s been on my mp3 without interruption for two days. At least this album has moments of sublime jazz improvisation; they are definitely above-average musicians, and I don't understand why they aren't known outside the Danish archipelago. One more reason to go see them live here in the city center on April 8th.
@Cappio: There's almost never traffic on the Oresund, or at least I've never encountered it... generally, there are few commuters between Denmark and Sweden XD

Living right here in Copenhagen, I'm going to see them on April 8th at a concert downtown (I just found out they played in Christiania not long ago, just a stone's throw from my place... damn...). You've definitely piqued my curiosity, even though I haven't managed to listen to anything from these guys yet. It seems that these albums are rarer than the phoenix to find.

What a pestilence you are. You and your cheap Sardinian lyricism. May you get smallpox on your scrotum for carelessly mentioning names like Peter Gabriel, Leopardi, Montale, and De André to talk about a kid who "makes love in all places and in all lakes." But in any case, you can only be a troll. Or a case study. Or both.

Sublime review for an unattainable album. The eagerly awaited second album, while being a great work, is obviously a step down from this musical monument, indeed much more than just a step. And it couldn't be any different. A similar blend of fusion and death metal in this opus happens only once in the history of music. The only tiny flaw is the hyper-effected voice. I’ve now gotten used to it after hundreds of listens, but I believe if it had been only instrumental, with at most a few growl incursions here and there, it would have been even greater. On the other hand, I find the voice "intrusive" in many works of the genre. Even in Control and Resistance by Watchtower, I tolerate the voice little as it doesn't really fit the genre (while I adore Machinations of Dementia by Blotted Science, which has the same mind behind it). Not to mention how much I dislike the voice in a work like that of Spiral Architect, which would be literally sublime without the vocals. I believe this is a genre where the voice should step aside to make room for the instrumental parts in all their perfection. For example, I love the work that Malone and the others do with Gordian Knot. One of the few exceptions to my anti-vocal principle is the album by Aghora, always with Malone. But that's a different discussion, as there’s a singer whose Middle Eastern experiments perfectly blend with the music.

The work of these guys is commendable. At times a bit too epic for my tastes, as I prefer the more intricate, jazz-like style of bands like Opeth, rather than the epic leanings of Symphony X and Threshold, but I really have little to complain about here (aside from the already mentioned epic, corrected choruses). Echoes of Life is sublime, Falling Away and Avalon have melodies that capture you from the very first listen, and technically these guys are impeccable, perfect, even without ever launching into whirlwinds of notes for their own sake. I believe they are unjustly underrated in the world of prog metal. I would invite many of those who have commented here so far to really listen to this album before being caught up in the usual, banal prejudices that, as always, fall into the self-indulgent anti-dreamtheaterism that hits everyone like a plague as soon as prog metal is mentioned. As for the review, I’m generous and I’ll stick to a 2. The excessive use of exclamation points has always given me hives, and it gives me the impression of a childish approach. The sentences are unnecessarily wordy and devoid of punctuation to the point of sometimes becoming incomprehensible to the human mind. And the complexity of the pieces surely doesn’t deserve judgments like “the guitars are really strong, really heavy riffs!”

A small note to the editors...I don't remember if it was me who got the year wrong, but I had also mentioned it in the review...the album is from 1975, not 1988.

A landmark in music over the last 20 years, one of the most complex and original albums ever produced by the human mind. Dismissing this album's elongated times, introspective melodic lines, and intentionally repetitive rhythms—almost like a mantra—as "boring" is somewhat akin to labeling a one-hour symphony by Bruckner or Mahler as tedious simply because it's too long and doesn’t offer easy melodies from start to finish. To such characters, I would advise dusting off their punk records and listening to their nice tracks that encapsulate everything they need to say in 2-3 minutes, because this stuff probably isn’t for them (but the fact that it isn't may force them to acknowledge their musical limitations, without indulging in unwarranted judgments about works they cannot comprehend). As for the review, I wouldn’t approach Lateralus the same way one would review an album by the Ramones or Iron Maiden. Lateralus is not just "a million orgasms put on a staff" or "granitic and obsessive riffs." Or rather, it is this only after a superficial first listen. I regret to notice that no one here has mentioned the "subliminal mathematical messages" embedded in this masterpiece, particularly in the title track (the verse metrics that follow the Fibonacci sequence; the sung part that starts at 97 seconds, where the ratio of 97 to 60 is the closest approximation to the number phi, an irrational number symbolizing "golden proportions" in classical art, and also closely linked to the Fibonacci sequence; the recurring theme of the spiral throughout the album, associated with the Fibonacci sequence, and if the album is listened to with the tracks arranged "in spiral," it turns out that one is the perfect continuous of the other). This album offers many interpretative keys. I’ve even come across people online who have found references to the numerical system of Jewish Kabbalah within the album. It is an album that deserves a 10-page analysis, certainly not one that limits itself to its granitic and repetitive riffs.

How much ostentatious ignorance do the comments from the certified vandals here exude? Just because you don’t like prog metal, specifically because you hate DT, doesn’t mean you should vandalize every review/album of that genre without even listening to it, just to demonstrate your ignorance. If I don’t like (and I don’t) hip hop, I wouldn’t go vandalizing all the reviews of Jay-Z saying he sucks without having listened to it. If you had just had a bit of an open mind to go into the first dump of the internet and listen to even a sample of these Swedish guys, you would have noticed that this album has very few points to vandalize and shoot down. Honestly, I prefer Extension of the Wish, particularly the title track which is a concentration of great musical ideas, but this album has very little to envy from the giants of the genre (yes, I also prefer them to Symphony X or Pain of Salvation, whom I sometimes find too, respectively, epic/power/screechy and melodic/syrupy/banal).

Your profile is a distillation of clichés and commonplaces in a pseudo-rebellious style, perfectly acceptable for a 15-year-old but a bit concerning coming from a 20-year-old. And the Crown is not beer; it's the piss of a pachyderm with added carbon dioxide. But I'm not here to judge that; instead, let me warmly welcome you and wish you a long life on Debaser.
As a preface: I spent my childhood with Ten, and I'm convinced that Pearl Jam have continued to make great music even after 2000 (just one name among many, Riot Act). Honestly, I haven't listened to this one yet, and I'm waiting to read more opinions around before buying it (and yes, Pearl Jam are one of the few bands left for which I buy original CDs, if only to give some money to that nice guy Eddie). However, the review, in its succinctness, has managed to pique my curiosity. Although I would tone down the last part, regarding the excessive use of shouted capitals and exclamation points from a teenager eager to say everything immediately and underline it ten times. But a 3 as encouragement is fair. I reserve the right to come back after listening to the album to give it a rating.