Solid sixth effort from Vanden Plas, gifted progressive-metal band from Germany. The Seraphic Clockwork is a concept album based on a science fiction story written by singer Andy Kuntz about a man travelling back in time from 16th century Rome to 33AD Jerusalem to face his ineluctable fate.

All songs are a well-balanced mix of power, melody and technical prowess. The execution is spotless, and the production is professional and powerful. Stephan Lill’s sharp guitars provide strong riffs throughout the album and are the absolute protagonist in shaping the structure of the songs. Keyboardist Günter Werno also deserves a special mention: his synth and keyboard textures work as an indispensable contrast to the heavier guitar sections and help keep the songs fresh and engaging (check out his excellent work on the ballad ‘Quicksilver’ or in the heavier and darker ‘Rush of Silence’). Andy Kuntz is a gifted and technical vocalist and ‘The Seraphic Clockwork’ is in fact a very vocal-centered album which lives its best moments when the vocal melodies really shine, like in the powerful ‘Holes in the Sky’ or in the variegated and more complex ‘On My Way to Jersulam’. Similarly, when the vocal melodies are less inspired (like in the rather ordinary ‘Sound of Blood’) the songs fall flat and remain forgettable.

The biggest limit of the material is – in my opinion - its lack of originality, as all riffs and melodies share similarities with those proposed by other successful prog-metal acts such as Evergrey, Dream Theatre, Seventh Wonder or Shadow Gallery. But, all in all, this is a strong effort and an excellent exercise in (heavy) progressive-metal music, and if you are a fan of any of the bands mentioned above you’ll certainly enjoy this as well.

Debut album for the new super-group Seven the Hard Line, starring Tony MacAlpine on guitars, bass and keyboards, Virgil Donati on drums, and singer Marc Boals.

There are only two good things about this album: 1) the odd and exciting guitar riffs of “Solitary Man”, and 2) a bunch of largely unoriginal but fairly effective hard-metal songs embellished by skillful guitar solos: the ballad "Where I'm Going" (aka "Something More" - check the great acoustic guitar solo by MacAlpine towards the end), the heavier "Good and Evil", and, a step below, the opening track “Liar”.

Everything else is bad. In two different ways. Bad as in “All I Had” or “The Wall” – more of the same, dated hard-metal brew, but flatter and duller (“The Wall” is simply terrible: totally uninspired). And bad as in “Guilt”, where the trio tries some sort of nu-metal/hard-rock blend, with dreadful results.

On average, “Seven the Hard Line” is a weak and uneven debut, with a few lights and a lot of shadows. Are the positives enough to recommend the album? Probably not.

Static Impulse is a collection of 12 powerful melodic metal songs - made more interesting by a very strong vocal delivery from LaBrie and by the unexpected melodic-death-metal / metalcore influences courtesy of drummer Peter Wildoer of Darkane.

The product works well, and is genuinely surprising at first - especially given that is LaBrie we’re talking about: 20 seconds into “One More Time” and you actually think you are playing the new In Flames! The musicians are obviously skilled (LaBrie vocals are excellent throughout the album) and the production is very good as well. The melodies in the choruses are strong and will stick in your head, the verses are slightly less interesting but good stuff nonetheless. Having said that – the pitfall of Static Impulse is the lack of originality in the songwriting (seriously, this is all stuff we’ve heard already somewherelse - and at times this sounds really too much like In Flames with better clean vocals). Also, there is too much of the same thing here. Note: I am not complaining that Static Impulse is not “progressive” enough – in fact after a lifetime in prog metal it is actually a good thing that LaBrie shows that he can do other stuff. The fact is that if you pick any of the 12 songs on the album chances are that it will sound exactly the same as the song before it and exactly the same as the song after it (same structure, same pace, same sound, same mood).

Don't get me wrong: this is a very solid piece of work, and there’s not a single song on the album that I dislike. At the same time, I also struggle to find songs that stand out or are truly impressive. So, I think 3 stars is a fair rating: good stuff, you’ll enjoy playing this – but I bet it won’t last in your playlist for more than one month.