Kingcrow - In Crescendo

Take your favorite progmetal bands from the 90s, mix into a stew and get Kingcrow.Man, Italy's really becoming the new place for interesting metal bands. Kingcrow started out as more of a straightahead metal band in the late 90s, but has since expanded to incorporate the more dramatic and reflective moods of progressive bands like Opeth or Dream Theater. Their previous release Timetropia has been hailed as a classic rock opera, being compared favorably to the likes of Tommy or Operation Mindcrime. And their 2010 effort Phlegethon received many accolades for its progressive stylings.

With In Crescendo, they continue their exploration of complex, atmospheric yet melodic music - that will sound rather familiar to fans of the aforementioned stalwarts of the genre - with moments of brilliance throughout. Right Before will remind you of Dream Theater's Awake-era stuff, while This Ain't Another Love Song has a great Enchant vibe, while Morning Rain is a great tune in the vein of vintage Queensrÿche, and so on throughout the album in a musical parade of progressive bands [mostly from the 90s].

Now the only problem (if you even want to call it that) that I run into is that when you think about it, while this is great music from an obviously talented band, it's also clearly, heavily, influenced by the bands they so closely resemble. That is to say that some people might wonder how original Kingcrow's music is. And while I can see their point, I am not in that camp. What I see is an established band that became inspired by a style and dived headfirst into it. And their output is really good, from the music to the impressive production - seriously, the mix on this album is about perfect, proving that it should be possible for every instrument to be heard clearly without the whole thing becoming muddy.

The Bottom Line: Fans of 90s progmetal bands will find much to like in Kingcrow's latest album. This is a talented group of artists with a good sense of melody and dynamics that some of those other prog bands have forgotten in the last 20 years...

Tracks to Test Those Fancy New Headphones With: Morning Rain, Right Before, This Ain't Another Love Song and Summer 97

- Genghis really dug this album (and now wants pasta in a bad way)...