(Progressive Heavy Metal) [CD] Humanity - When Silence Calls - 2003, FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Cambridge is probably known to most of you as the classic English university town. Loads of old buildings, towering spires and people walking around in gowns and funny hats! Well it's got all of that, but now it's also the hometown of one of the most promising young ProgMetal acts to come out of the UK in the past few years. You will probably never have heard of 'em and with an average age of just 19, I must admit I wasn't expecting too much either. But this really is an impressive debut album.

Although the relatively new Killin' Time Records has labelled Humanity as a 'progressive metal' act - that really only tells part of the story. If you like a purer ProgMetal of the likes of Zero Hour, SymphonyX or VandenPlas, then this doesn't really fit into any of those moulds. But, if you can use your imagination - picture in your mind say Savatage, Joy Division, Lacuna Coil, Black Sabbath and Metallica on a wife swapping evening with Evergrey and Pink Floyd as party music! This is a seriously heavy, dark album that kicks serious butt with a fantastic, nay joyful sense of energy and an innate ability to hum a good tune.

The opening track This Endless Pain, is their most recent and most mature composition. However it's just one of many great moments on offer here. Decay posses a doom-laden thrash riff that your head is just obliged to bang away to. Dark Cell has an almost impish keyboard run on top of a brooding little ditty; As Humanity Fades is a modern take on Killers-era Maiden which closes the album off on an upbeat note and Justify is built on a cheeky, yet effective take on the opening riff of For Whom the Bell Tolls. This track and Fallen which follows, is as close as I've heard anyone come to the dark intensity and melody perfected by Evergrey. Engineered and mixed by Pete Coleman (Paradise Lost, Napalm Death) the sound is fine, although Blinded should have been kept as a short ballad and Suffer in Silence is trying too hard to be a pop song. For the ProgMetal fans there are plenty of mood swings and a good variety of time changes and ever changing chops.

Whilst his performance is great throughout, if Simon Shedwell could develop a few more variations in tone and emphasis and maybe a bit more power in his higher range it would really enhance the variety that this sort of music demands. Similarly, while I love deep guitar riffs, a bit more variety across the album would have further strengthened the dynamics, as would a more prominent use of keyboards.

But those are minor points. As I said at the beginning this is a very mature debut from a young band that clearly has plenty of room - and more importantly ability - to develop into something very interesting. If you like your ProgMetal closer to Evergrey than Dream Theater, then this is a band that deserves your support.

(from http://www.dprp.net

Simon Shedwell - vocals
Steve Wallace - guitars
Richard Hall - guitars
Craig Durkitt - keyboards
Chris Le Mottee - bass
Alex Townsend - drums