'After Lapse' is a Spanish progressive metal formation created in 2018 and which released a first album 'Face the Storm' in December 2022. Under the leadership of 'Frontiers Music', a label which is more accustomed to producing rock artists and melodic hard rock, this new project has all the assets to compete with the tenors of the genre because their influences are drawn from the last 20 years of progressive and we can recognize different progressive formations in the broad sense ranging from rock to metal. With 11 tracks, they favour fairly short durations for progressive, not exceeding 6 minutes but still leaving plenty of room for sophisticated and inventive constructions with fairly immediate accessibility thanks to catchy melodic lines.
'Thrive' welcomes us with an instrumental that sets the scene for the album and with a first melody that can recall the epic atmospheres deployed in 'The Astonishing' by 'Dream Theater'. With 'Where No One Cares', we get to the heart of the matter with a first title which shows a very melodic face and which offers a progressive construction with a good alternation between sung parts (very good by the way by 'Rubén Miranda') and provided instrumental sections, the unifying chorus bringing a fairly immediate hook, then, 'Come Undone' (see the video above) develops a more metal atmosphere with a more pronounced aggressiveness in the singing of 'Rubén Miranda' and in the guitar riffs, the whole being more direct and less progressive. Follows the title song (see the video here) which is more moderate and deploys, on a mid-tempo, a remarkable crescendo ending with a very beautiful guitar solo, then falls back to start again on a final all in power. Make way for 'Beyond the End' which shows a quieter face in the form of a magnificent semi-acoustic with a new chorus which immediately sticks in the head and which can still recall the atmosphere of 'The Astonishing', then 'The Lie' returns to inventive progressive metal with alternating rhythms and intensities, the oriental melodic lines with the very beautiful instrumental passage in the middle of the title bringing a zest of scenery, which makes it one of the major pieces of the album. In the continuity of the previous title, 'Through This War' continues in this sought-after progressive metal with a hardening of the tone brought by a muscular rhythm section which leads the dance with multiple changes of tempos, the whole always keeping melodic lines accessible. The Spaniards continue to fill us with what follows and the titles 'More' (remarkable central guitar solo) and 'Facta Non Verba' (very beautiful neo-classical passage) are still very beautiful examples of this melodic progressive, the album ending with the short instrumental 'Heal' which brings us back to much quieter lands in a symphonic atmosphere and 'Along The Way' which ends the album in a very beautiful way with a refined ballad with a very beautiful melancholy trio singing/piano/cello.
In summary, if we had to define this magnificent album by the Spaniards of After Lapse', I would say that it could be a good entry for all those who want to discover progressive metal because it integrates, at the same time, all the ingredients of an inventive and sought-after progressive while keeping a fairly immediate accessibility thanks to accessible melodic lines, but 'Face the Storm' goes far beyond a simple progressive metal album because the Spaniards offer us a panel of different styles that they merge in a very beautiful way and, for my part, this already very mature first album is my favorite of the end of 2022... | |
