Intricate EP
Justin Gaines | Northern Virginia | 04/04/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"With a lineup that features members of Borknagar, Winds, and Mayhem (they've got Hellhammer!), Age of Silence seems at first glance like a black metal supergroup. Instead, the band serves up some truly innovative and intricate (hence this EP's title) progressive metal. Who knew these corpse-painted blasphemers had it in them? I guess I shouldn't be all that surprised after hearing projects like Green Carnation and Winds.
The 2005 EP Complications: a Trilogy of Intricacy is the band's follow up to their well received debut album Acceleration, and finds the band further defining their progressive metal sound. It's on par with Winds' material, or perhaps a less aggressive Borknagar. It's still undeniably a metal album, but it's far more progressive than aggressive. And when I say progressive, I don't mean Dream Theater or Vanden Plas. I'm thinking more on the lines of a metallic King Crimson here.
At just 16 minutes, Complications really doesn't give us much more than a taste of things to come, but if these three songs are any indication, Age of Silence's next full length album should be impressive. Hopefully we'll see it some time this decade.
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