Time Signature Into the fire...

Genre: progressive metal

Originally released in 2003, this album is slated for rerelease later this August in a very limited digipak edition with one bonus track.

Section A evolves around guitar virtuoso Torben Enevolsen who apparently formed the band because he was tired of doing instrumental albums. Although essentially his band, the album is definitely not just the vehicle of an inflated guitarist's ego. It is guitar-driven, yes, (it is metal after all), but not guitar dominated. Enevoldsen spends as much time on grooves and riffs as on guitar leads, and thus he comes across as a team player, which I really admire.

He definitely is a skilled guitarist, and his technical abilities are brought into the limelight in his guitar solos, which are impressive and characterized by both shred and melody.

Musically, we are dealing with melodic progressive metal which features both straightforward and catchy passages (with tracks like 'Riot' being straightforward melodic metal tracks) as well as progressive elements in the form of odd time signatures, keyboard solos, slightly jazzy elements, and extended melodic pieces and spacey bridges. A track like the ballad 'Pray for Rain' is, for my money, one of the best tracks on the album, and has a slight Queensrÿche-feel to it, while 'Nightmare' features some nice Fates Warning-inspired riffage.

In addition to Enevoldsen's guitar playing, a major attraction of this album is definitely Andy Engberg's powerful vocals. His voice is extremely clear and powerful, and he delivers the vocal lines perfectly.

Fans of melodic progressive metal should strike now and pre-order this reissued version of the album if they do not already own it.

UMUR "Parallel Lives" is the 2nd full-lengthstudio album by multinational metal act Section A. The album was released in 2006 by Lion Music.

I purchased the band´s debut album "The Seventh Sign (2003)" when it was released because I had heard rumours of guitarist/ main composer Torben Enevoldsen´s considerable guitar shredding skills and that album did me a pretty good listening experience even though the generally hard rocking metal/ power metal style on that album wasn´t exactly innovative. Enevoldsen´s solos occasionally made the album shine and the high level of musicianship wasn´t bad either. The compositions were solid but unfortunately also a bit formulaic and unfortunately the same can be said about "Parallel Lives".

The music is still traditional styled metal/ power metal/ with a few progressive elements like the jazzy keyboard in "Moment of Truth" but generally you have to look a very long time for progressive elements on the album. Enevoldsen´s guitar solos are, as the case was on the debut album, the greatest asset on the album. Fast and furious yet melodic. They are unfortunately the only highlight on the album. The compositions are just as formulaic and trivial as it was the case on the debut but there seem to be even fewer standout moments on "Parallel Lives". The vocals are hard rock/ power metal styled but not of the extremely high pitched kind. Andy Engberg is as such a strong vocalist but I´m not especially fond of his voice or singing style. The tracks feature lots of keyboards but they are mostly used to support the guitar driven songs and work as polish. There are some female vocals in the track "Awakening" which is nice for the variation on the album.

The production is professional and polished.

"Parallel Lives" is all in all too filled with clichés and generic compositions to really lift it above mediocrity. It´s too bad because the musicianship and the professional sound production could have carried the music far. A 2 - 2.5 star rating is deserved.

UMUR "The Seventh Sign" is the debut fulllength studio album by multi-national metal act Section A. The album was released in 2003 by Lion Music. The main man behind the project is Danish guitarist/ bassist/ Keyboardist Torben Enevoldsen. Torben Enevoldsen has released instrumental solo albums before creating Section A. He has hired a couple of Swedish guns for the project in Andy Engberg (Ex-Lion´s Share) on vocals and Andreas Lill on drums. Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater, Platypus, Planet X and solo) guests with a couple of keyboard solos on the title track and on the track "Nightmare". Derek Sherinian involvelment in the project was of course adverticed with a sticker on the jewel case back when I purchased the album. It´s a bit of a shame really as Sherinian´s contributions aren´t essentially what Section A are about. I guess it had good commercial value though.

The music is melodic and slightly progressive metal with an emphasis on melody and with lots of guitar solos from main composer Torben Enevoldsen. Expect traditional heavy metal/ power metal first and progressive elements second. The album is pretty consistent in quality. Torben Enevoldsen is a really skilled guitarist and composer too. He plays some really fast notes but leaves room for melody as well. His style reminds me a bit of the sound of Steve Vai (without ever reaching the masters touch of course). All tracks are powerful metal tunes featuring some pretty extravagant guitar solos and songs like the title track and "Riot" are some of the highlights.

The musicianship is really good. Andy Engberg is skilled vocalist and the drumming by Andreas Lill is tight but nothing out of the ordinary. Torben Enevoldsen´s guitar playing is IMO the main attraction on "The Seventh Sign" though.

The production is solid and professional sounding.

"The Seventh Sign" is in many ways an enjoyable album, but it´s safe to say Section A don´t invent the wheel. I could have wished for a bit less predictable compositions, more compositional depth and more will to experiment to avoid clichés. Section A are best when they are most progressive. A 3 star rating is warranted.

Stephen This is my first experience with Section A and at first, I thought I’m gonna listen to a nice Swedish progressive metal but apparently they didn’t grant my wish. This is a modern style melodic heavy metal and I don’t see, maybe a slight, progressive influence inside. It’s not that I don’t like melodic metal, in fact, I love that style, and it’s just that most of the songs presented here are terribly average. Andy Engberg is a versatile singer, I must admit that, he has a great raspy voice and an admirable range. Enevoldsen and Olausson also make a great guitar/keyboard combo here, at times, even leave me breathless in some tracks with their impeccable deliveries. The rhythm section is tight and flawless, but again, the underlined mistakes here are just a decent songwriting value.

After multiple spins, I can safely state, there are only three outstanding songs here. The furious groove of the title track makes the first. “Land of The Desert Sun” is the next one. Check out the magnificent thunderous guitar/keys intro creeping in followed by a fierce riffin’ constructing a fearful Verse and then climbing up to the grandeur chorus. The last one should be “Days of Sorrow”, the best pick of the album with a wonderful riffs squeezed in a swelling verse and huge commercial chorus.

Honestly, there’s only one single filler here, which is “Concealed In Lies”, a laid back dull ballad, but as I’ve stated before, this record suffered with too many decent songs. “Room With A View”, “Lionheart”, and “The City Is Falling” all have the same potential of becoming great tracks, but there’s always a flaw you can find whether on the verse, the chorus, or the riffs. Many songs’ patterns are monotonous, flat, and predictable. The sound production is however awesome, but it’s a shame that factor alone can’t help “Sacrifice” from being rated below 3.