Artension - Sacred Pathways


Year of Release: 2001
Label: Frontiers Records
Catalog Number: n/a
Format: CD
Total Time: 57:11:00

With John West joining Royal Hunt many with me were concerned for the future of Artension but West and his crew did not let the fans down. Sacred Pathways is Artension's 5th album and the first to be released by Frontiers Records, their new record label. It certainly is a joy seeing Frontiers broadening their horizons signing bands like this.

There are no drastic changes to the Artension sound with Sacred Pathways following the direction of the four previous albums. The band has the advantage of being blessed by some extremely skilled musicians, but that does not automatically mean they can write good songs. Although Artension has written some fantastic songs on their previous albums, I sometimes felt, especially on the last two CDs, that good melody-lines have been overshadowed by virtuosity and instrumental brilliance. This is not the case this time around. The melody-lines, choruses and instrumentation all fall into place and are supplementing each other, bringing the music to a higher level.

I feel these songs are more back to the style and quality of the first two albums, which are by far their best work. West is very good as always and the other band members all deliver a blistering performance of premier musicianship. Seems Kuprij finally found back the winning songwriting formula of previous album The Eye Of The Storm and Phoenix Rising. There are 2 instrumentals, 3 ballads and the remaining 8 tracks are neoclassical melodic metal of finest order. On top you can add a strong production.

Sacred Pathways is Artension's best album in years and comes recommended to all fans of Neoclassical Melodic Metal and high-class musicianship.

[This review originally appeared November 2002 at the ProgPower Online review site -ed.]


Tracklisting:
Voyage To Nasca / Your Victory / Running Out Of Time / Sacred Pathways / Silent Temple / The Emperor / Nightmare / The Killing / The Calm Before The Storm / March To Ruin / Flower Of The Orient / Nightmare (Radio Edit)

Musicians:
John West - vocals
Roger Staffelbach - guitars
Kevin Chown - bass
Vitalij Kuprij - keyboards
Mike Terrana ? drums

Discography:
Into The Eye Of The Storm (1996)
Phoenix Rising (1997)
Forces of Nature (1999)
Machine (2000)
Sacred Pathways (2001)
New Discovery (2002)
Future World (2004)

Genre: Progressive/Power Metal

Origin US

Added: November 26th 2004
Reviewer: Bjørnar Bevolden
Score:
Artist website: www.vitalijkuprij.com/artension
Hits: 2712
Language: english

  

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