The new Artension album, Future World is my first experience with this band. And well, I don't think I have missed much. From what I have heard from their album, Artension has got the progressive parts of their music down pat; but, where the problem lies in the music is in the keyboards. I'm not saying anything bad about Vitalij Kuprij and his keyboard but this looks like the band was following a formula. Don't believe me? If you have the album, play the first 3 seconds of EVERY SONG (excluding the Bach piece, of course), and what do you hear? A keyboard intro appears in every single song. This album just doesn't bring anything interesting to the table - I mean, the only thing saving this album from getting a lesser score would be John West (Royal Hunt). If you're familiar with Royal Hunt, you'll know that John West has a fascinating voice and his vocals are the only thing worth listening to on this album. “New Discovery” and “Story Teller” are the best tracks in Future World. The keyboard playing is heavily melodic, but again, nothing new to rave about. True Artension fans will go out and get this, others will wait for something better to come along. Rock On!
Band:
John West - vocals
Roger Staffelbach – guitar
Kevin Chown – bass
Vitalij Kuprij – keyboards
Mike Terrana - drums
Tracks:
- New Discovery
- Remember My Name
- Innocence Lost
- The Last Survivor
- Hearts Are Broken
- Symphonic Expedition
- Endless Days
- Call Of the Wild
- Story Teller
- Endless Days (radio edit)
- Bonus track: Prelude in E flat minor (theme by J. S. Bach)
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