Waterclime - "The Astral Factor" Review

Artist/ Band: Waterclime
Title: The Astral Factor
Label: Lion Music
Year of Release: 2006
Artist/ Band Link (click for details/ ordering)

The Review:

Here’s another fantastic surprise from the primarily power metal label, Lion Music, in the form of Waterclime. Now the other surprise is this is a side project from the man behind the black metal band Vintersorg, Just like other albums I get from Lion Music, I was a bit skeptical about it but once I listened to it, I was very happily surprised at the end result. That result is a modern symphonic sound that reminds me of a more upbeat result than Opeth did on Damnation. There’s even elements of bands like Uriah Heep, Deep Purple, The Moody Blues and many more throughout the album.

This is one of my favorite releases of the year and gets repeat listens. I think this is something modern music fans will bite into more so than fans of the classic progressive sound. To pigeon hole the band will do them an injustice because they’re so many styles wrapped into one, such as a bit of Scandinavian folk, vintage prog, proto prog, hard rock and modern rock atmosphere. While there’s no new ground broken here, it satisfies everything I enjoy about progressive and symphonic rock. With that, I’d recommend this album and hopefully Mr. V will provide us with many more in the years to come.

Reviewed by Ron Fuchs on May 13th, 2006

Tracks:

1. Mountains

2. Floating

3. The Astral Factor

4. Diamond Moon

5. Painting Without Colours

6. Midnight Flyer

7. Scarytale

8. Timewind.

Reviewed Discography

Here are other reviews by this artist at ProgNaut.com.

"The Astral Factor" 2006
"Imaginative" 2007