To be quite honest with you all, I wasn’t sure what to think when I received a copy of Dynamic Light’s Shape. I was thinking to myself, “oh great, another prog-metal band. I bet they’re another in the Dream Theater mold”. Boy was I ever so wrong after listening to the album for the first time. In fact I had to listen to it again because I was very happy with what I heard.
Their music is closer to Pain of Salvation and Fates Warning than Dream Theater. The vocalist reminds me of Daniel Gildenlow and Chris Cornell. The musicians are top notch and execute some of the tastiest progressive metal I’ve heard in years. There’s a two minute instrumental improv, Density, that reminds me of something Emerson would do. I don’t remember other prog-metal bands doing that.
My favorite tracks besides Density are the opener ((In the Hands of a Siren) where there’s some female vocals accompanying the main vocalist, Matteo Infante. It’s one of the best openers for this genre. Also the other song that gets me reminded of Chris Cornell’s vocals is Going To Nowhere. Plus the epic One Thousand Nothing showcases the combined talents of the band.
Dynamic Light’s is a breath of fresh air in the Dream Theater clones. It’s great to see a band wanting to do more than that and create one of the better releases of 2005, even the millennium. This is a very recommenced release for fans of adventurous progressive metal, especially fans of Pain of Salvation, Wastefall and Fates Warning.
Reviewed by Ron Fuchs on August 23rd, 2005
