One of the benefits this gig has had for me is that I’ve
\nregained an interest in progressive rock that I hadn’t really had
\nsince high school. But the more I listen to of modern prog-rock,
\nthe more critical I find myself getting of the genre. It always
\ntook a lot for me to get really excited about an album in this
\ngenre; now, it takes even more for me to hop up on the soapbox and
\nsing a prog-rock group’s praise.<\/p>\n
But that’s a-what I’m gonna do today – and the guest of honor is
\nArtension, whose third album
\nForces Of Nature<\/i> should open a lot of people’s eyes and
\nears, and make this genre a popular one again. Showing that
\nprogressive rock and metal can be successfully combined without
\nsacrificing any integrity, Artension unleash a ten-song
\ntour-de-force that actually leaves the listener feeling sad when
\nit’s over.<\/p>\n
The group is centered around keyboardist Vitalij Kuprij, an
\nartist who could well be the Joe Satriani of the ivories. He treats
\nthe keyboards like a guitar, whipping off break-neck speed lines
\nthat I never thought you could do on a keyboard. On
\nForces Of Nature<\/i>, his work is sure to leave more than a few
\njaws scraping the ground.<\/p>\n
But this isn’t meant to take away from the contributions of the
\nother four members. Vocalist John West takes each song and, with
\nhis own powerful instrument, helps to take these songs into
\nentirely new territories. Guitarist Roger Staffelbach is an
\nincredible talent as well; it’s exciting to hear the guitar and
\nkeyboards occasionally trade licks on a solo. (Worthy of note:
\nguitarist James Murphy also contributes some lead work on this
\nalbum, and his solos blend right in.) Bassist John Onder and
\ndrummer Shane Gaalaas round out the group, forming the rhythmic
\nbackbone that pulls all these forces together.<\/p>\n
Enough metaphors, you’re saying, how is the music on
\nForces Of Nature<\/i>? Think Yngwie Malmsteen without some of the
\nclassical influences. Tracks like “The Forces Of Nature,” “Lost
\nHorizon” and “The Truth” all highlight a band that, if life were
\nfair, would be revered as superstars for this quality package. Even
\nmy wife, who is not tolerant of a lot of the music I listen to,
\nfound something to like. While “Guardian Of The Hunt” was playing,
\nshe was able to draw comparisons to a song she likes; before she
\nknew it, she had sat down and was listening to the album with
\nme.<\/p>\n
What seals the deal is the way Artension closes the album; “You
\nAre My Heart (Ode To Autumn)” is a piano and vocal piece that
\nbrings the mood down from all guns blazing to introspective – nice
\ntouch!<\/p>\n
\nForces Of Nature<\/i> is an outstanding album from a group that,
\nchances are, you have never heard of. One listen to this album, and
\nyou’ll regret not knowing about them sooner. I know I wish I had
\nfound out about Artension when they first hit the market – and
\nsomething tells me I’ll be going out to snag their previous albums
\nsoon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25022,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6113],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-36227","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-artension","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36227"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36227"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}