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 "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.