This review is about peer pressure. I consider myself to be a bit of an expert on Progressive Metal. I say this based on the following: for 7 years I have been a loyal attender of the ProgPowerUSA festival in Atlanta, GA, along with two very good friends of mine. During this time, my collection has grown to a ridiculous amount of music, and I have sought out more and more Progressive Metal. I LOVE Progressive Metal. Oh, I listen to other forms of music, but I do not seek them out like I do for Progressive Metal. I suffer for Progressive Metal - listening to mediocre album after mediocre album in the hopes that I'll find something stellar (which I do). But why do I consider myself an expert on this sub-genre? At the ProgPowerUSA festival, they always have a vendor area with thousands of Progressive Metal and Power Metal albums, and other related music. I love visiting this vendor area, and for the first few years of my attendance of the festival, I would visit the area and I would be the question asker: I would go to one of the gentleman attending a table and I would ask about some albums I saw on the table, or I would list some bands I liked and ask if they could recommend anything for me. The last few years, I have stopped doing this because I found that when I asked these questions, and the vendor started listing things for me I would find I already knew everything they were listing for me. I also noticed that when I overheard other attendees asking similar questions, I was chiming in: "well, if you like this band, you'll probably enjoy...." Now I tell you this story after my intro about peer pressure because I felt my expertise on the sub-genre to be challenged because it seemed every time a thread about Progressive Metal started, or every time a newbie asked for recommendations in the sub-genre, some very enthusiastic forum member would tell them how Maudlin of the Well was hands down THE best band in the sub-genre. Coming to their review page does not challenge this notion as you scan down 5-star review after 5-star review. Man, I'm telling you, I WANTED to like this band. Because I thought, if I didn't, it must mean I'm not as much of an expert as I thought I was. HOWEVER, I will not bow to peer pressure here. If you consider yourself a Progressive Metal fan, DON'T FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE TO LISTEN TO THIS ONE! First of all, I don't even think this qualifies as Metal, not in any sense of the word. Second of all, I challenge the "brilliance" that many reviewers on this site keep pushing in regards to this band. This album, to me, felt like someone trying very, very hard to be artistic. Now, I'm a fan of some melancholy music, such as some of the slower tempoed works by Riverside, Pink Floyd, some rainy day Jazz, David Gray, and even the occasional Coldplay tune is very pleasing to me. But this entire album sounded so...listless...bored...plodding...it was a CHORE to listen to this album. It felt like the musicians were playing this music under duress! It does not move me in any way, but rather plods along like a lazy fat man hoping if he moves slow enough his wife will tell him "forget it, I'll do it myself." I'm pretty sure the vocalist was C.S. Lewis' fictional character Puddleglum made into flesh. Reading all the reviews of this album, this band no less, and not "getting it" made me feel like I had to figure out how to like this album, but the truth is I really, really don't. It made me want to go back to the album more than once to try to figure out what I was missing. Well, I've got news for you: I don't think I was missing out before I heard of this band, and I definitely think I wasted far to much time trying to "get" them. So I plead with my readers who consider themselves Progressive Metal fans: don't make the same mistake I made! Don't waste your time on this one! You don't have to like it, despite all the 5 star reviews and people in the forum raving on and on about it! I think all the 5 star ratings are "Much Ado About Something that's just kind of O.K." dtguitarfan | 2/5 |
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