UMUR
"Ripples In Time" is the debut full-length studio album by Danish progressive metal act Chrome Shift. The album was released in 2003 through DVS Records.
The music on the album is progressive metal. It´s heavy yet melodic vers/ chorus oriented metal. The challenging instrumental parts are kept to a minimum so this is actually more regular heavy metal with progressive elements than full-blown progressive metal IMO. The keyboards do give the album a progressive sound though and the last four songs which seque into each other to form the epic title track also display some progressive tendencies. Don´t expect this to be as challenging as a act like Dream Theater or their ilk though. The compositions are generally of a solid quality but they do lack originality and a personal sound IMO.
The musicianship is excellent. Lead vocalist Rasmus Bak has a strong and powerful voice and the interplay between the rest of the band is impeccable.
The production is solid but not excellent.
"Ripples In Time" is a good album but it will first and foremost appeal to fans of vers/ chorus song oriented progressive metal and not fans of the more challenging part of the genre. I mostly belong to the latter and I find the music on "Ripples In Time" to be a bit too safe and not adventurous enough for my taste. But as I stated above it´s a good album in the respect that the musicianship and the compositions are of high quality. A 2.5 - 3 star rating is deserved.