This new album from 'Psychotic Waltz' takes us back to the late 80's when we started hearing progressive metal and the Americans, who started their career around the same time as 'Dream Theater', were part of this wave of precursors that took over the codes of progressive rock to incorporate metal elements. As a result, four albums were released between 1990 and 1996, a year which also saw the group's separation. Reformed in 2010 for concerts, it's almost 24 years after their last album ’Bleeding’ and with the same line up that ‘The God-Shaped Void’ was born.
Overall, even if the average duration of the tracks is around five minutes, the progressive side is limited, often falling into a classic verse / chorus scheme and the Americans decided to favor a heavy sound with compositions with relatively slow tempos. On the other hand, the melodic lines have been particularly worked so that the whole remains accessible and this from the first title 'Devils and Angels' in which the chorus easily enters the head and we can also mention the melodics 'Stranded', 'All the Bad Men', 'The Fallen', 'While the Spiders Spin' or 'Sisters of the Dawn'. We can also note titles 'Back to Black' or 'Pull then String' with more punchy rhythms and closer to modern progressive metal but also the use of acoustic guitar or flute allowing to vary the atmospheres as in 'The Fallen', 'While The Spiders Spin', 'In the Silence' or the quieter title 'Demystified'.
In summary, the Americans of 'Psychotic Waltz' return to the front of the progressive metal scene with a very good album and 'The God-Shaped Void' is intended to please an audience loving an accessible progressive and melodic metal combining sounds of the 90s with modern production... | |
