Andromeda - II=I


Year of Release: 2003
Label: Century Media
Catalog Number: 8082-2
Format: CD
Total Time: 62:20:00

The Swedes are at it again, producing one quality band after the other. This is yet another band thrown in to the prog metal arena that are bound for stardom. Andromeda offer fairly crunchy and technical melodic progressive metal. The ensemble and interplay of the guitarist and keyboardist is simply blistering and should have any prog metal fan absolutely floored! Smokin!

It's rather progressive and technical but at the same time keeping a high focus on melodies and accessibility. Songs like "The Words Unspoken" and "Crescendo of Thoughts" makes me remember why I love this genre so much. The instrumentation on this disc is very impressive and I simply can not resist the crunchy riffing and guitar frenzy of Johan Reinholdz. The only minus on this disc is the mid-ranged vocals. He does a decent job, but unfortunately lacking power and range. It makes me wonder what this disc would have sounded like with a better singer. Anyways, as I understand the band has recruited a great singer now so this should not be an issue on the next CD.

It's hard to compare them to other bands as Andromeda certainly have their own identity. The material offered is very strong, although the songs mentioned above are the definite standouts. If they can keep the quality of the two first tracks throughout a whole CD I would not hesitate to give this CD the highest rating. Still, with an awesome debut CD as this is who knows what this band can produce in the future. Seems like the talent within this band is infinite. This comes highly recommended to all prog metal fans.

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


Tracklisting:
Encyclopedia (7:08) / Mirages (5:42) / Reaching Deep Within (4:50) / Two Is One (9:05) / Morphing Into Nothing (7:35) / Castaway (6:17) / Parasite (6:55) / One In My Head (8:03) / This Fragile Surface (8:05)

Musicians:
Johan Reinholdz ? guitar, bass
David Fremberg ? vocals
Martin Hedin ? keyboards
Thomas Lejon ? drums

Discography:
Extension Of The Wish (2001)
II=I (2003)
Final Extension (2004)
Chimera (2006)
The Immunity Zone (2008)

Playing Off The Board (DVD) (2007)

Genre: Progressive-Power Metal

Origin SE

Added: November 25th 2004
Reviewer: Bjørnar Bevolden
Score:
Artist website: www.andromedaonline.com
Hits: 2161
Language: english

  

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