By: Anders

Posted: Apr 15, 2006

The pond where labels fish progressive metal bands seem bottomless, one good band after aother emerges all the time, it is incredible how many talented musicians and song writers this world has given birth to. It is also impressive that Sensory have the ability to find and pick up as many as the good bands as they do, they have quite some killer bands on their label. Degree Absolute is one of those bands and this is their debut album, giving us all from the most insane progressive metal, to calm fusion-jazz passages to over the top technical elements, all weaved into a nice and soothing soundtrack.

The song writing on the album is good, there is a great focus on the good and fluid song, and the songs do flow very well and keeps ones attention nailed at them. Though we are still offered a great deal of technical elements and details, all 3 musicians, guitarist and vocalist Aaron Bell, bassist Dave Lindeman and drummer Doug Beary are amazing musicians, who all know how to make the best of their playing, and the unit seems like working really well together. The flow between the calm jazzy passages, the technical and insane elements and the clean hooks are working really well, it all flows well into each other, in a natural way, which compliments the songs. There are always going something on, even when the music is at its most calm periods, we are being offered a good quiet guitar solo, an amazing atmosphere or something else, which keeps the interest high.

The production that the album has gotten is also good and suiting. The album is produced by mainman Aaron Bell and he has done a good job, getting the music on disc, he has then shipped it off to Neil Kernon who has mixed it. Again a good and fluid mix, with the instruments placed well compared to each other and with the right highlights.

The range of music on this album is quite wide and a lot of people should be able to get into it on that account. The sales-sheet mention bands as Dream Theater, Fates Warning and Watchtower, and I can't really disagree with those comparisons. Though Degree Absolute does deliver more than a blend of those 3 bands, they do have their own style and way of writing and delivering the music on. If you're into the styles mentioned in the review, the bands mentioned above and good music in general, give the album a spin.

Rating: 8½/10

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