7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Under appreciated prog metal..., April 10, 2004
This review is from: Dark Millenium (Audio CD)
This is the second "archives" release after Psychotic Waltz disbanded. A very unique band (at least in the prog metal circles), with words like complex, dreamy, psychedelic coming to mind when listening to their albums. This is not the place to start your Psychotic Waltz collection. Rather start with the re-releases of their proper albums and then come back here. The first seven songs are actually a suite written by guitarist Brian McAlpine, inspired by a set of paintings (which can be found in the booklet). The music on these pieces is trying to be ambient, lots of keyboards, certain moments stand out but generally it tends to sound as background music. The two next pieces are more interesting (composed by both guitarists of the band) that bring Darkstar to mind. This time keyboards function as a backdrop for fluid and layered guitar playing. And now for the real treat, previously unreleased Psychotic Waltz live tunes and covers. Buddy Lackey gives a passionate performance on 'Disturbing the Priest', while the live tracks (even though of bad production quality) show what this band was capable and why it has this cult status amongst prog metal fans. The songs here are taken from their debut and are all excellent. Fantastic guitar interplay between Rock and McAlpin, compex rhythm section and intricate time signatures, each song is a mind trip. This is not your typical pompous and self indulgent prog, it is cerebral heavy music without any excess.
Surely this is not worth the 5-star rating (poor sound quality, the rather tiresome first suite) but the sentimental value is very high for Psychotic Waltz fans to ignore. Listen to this band's music, it's definitely rewarding and worth it.
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