"Not another prog metal heap of shite!", I thought when reading the press blurb on this release. What have I done to deserve it? But here we go, at least I can dissect another load of pretentious crap and put it firmly in its place.

Hang on a minute, starting with an instrumental should put me in full rant mode, but something's holding me back - the said track, 'Stendal Syndrome', is a bit of a burner; it's dark, has plenty of power and is reminiscent of Alice In Chains - this isn't prog. Its title even comes from a recognised psychosymatic illness triggered when you are exposed to a great piece of art causing rapid heartbeat, dizziness, nausea and even hallucinations, sounds like any decent real cider to me!!! Or the feeling you get watching a band live who are smack on their game (depending on your choice of stimulus...ahem).

Second track 'I Rise You Fall' kicks in and you have all the intensity of prime time Slipknot, this follows on in 'Factory, Factory', before 'Room 121' battered me - brilliantly put together, lots of dark and light shading and plenty of power. It's a long time since a thrash (?) band excited me this much and I dont think I've sat this stunned since hearing Death Angel's 'The Ultraviolence' back in the day.

The vocalist can sing or scream depending on the music, very reminiscent of Corey Taylor to these ears, on 'Box 5' though I start to get the horrible prog feeling and quickly skip through. 'Redemption' still has the prog overtones and again I'm struggling until the vocals lift it into something more enjoyable. By the time I get to the closing triumvirate of 'In Loving Memory', 'Shadows Of Broken Wings' and 'No Man's Land' I'm a little confused; it's not what I would call progressive metal, in fact I'd sit it alongside old school thrash at times (nothing wrong with that), similar structure and time changes, but drawing on bands like Linkin Park, Slipknot, Alice In Chains.

If only it could have maintained the intensity of the opening tracks, it would have happily sat in my best albums of 2011 list, as it is I'll defer judgement and try and look out for them live, as long as they avoid the prog guitar solos and concentrate on the intensity. Got to deserve the chance of record company promotion, somebody out there give them a go, there have been a lot of bands a hell of a lot worse signed.

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