Stephen
'The Lotus Effect' is one of the most volatile prog-metal disc I ever heard in 2011. I know several others but the point is, SUN CAGED seems to excite you with a splendid melodic kick, and then bored you instantly with some mediocre tracks, and then push you up to the sky with some nice shred and scream, and torn you to pieces with couple of worst prog-metal tracks I ever heard. That's a huge roller coaster ride but not in an incredibly fun way.
'Seamripper' is a monstrous opening set, with a death metal pattern rolling in, the early part is highly melodic and complex, yet it provides an easy access to the whole song. 'Tip-Toe The Fault Line' is where DREAM THEATER meets PORCUPINE TREE, and check out the solo, it's a madness! And to the next 6 tracks, I'm experiencing a painful journey. 'Shades of Hades' is a torture to my ears, and 'Pareidolized' is only slightly better. 'Reductio Ad Absurdum' is quite boring but kudos to the great singing here.
The only track I can accept is 'On Again/Off Again', but hope soon arise again with 'Parasol', an easy listening type of track but I love the simplicity of it. 'Wave The Banner' is a nice short track, and nothing's really memorable until 'Let It Wash Away', which is a good closer. With a running time of over 70 minutes, you must be a real hardcore fan of this band, or the genre, to really enjoy this album.
I don't think I can stand the whole album in one single spin without taking a break, it's just unbearable, but 'The Lotus Effect' isn't a horrible album at all, some good moments, some listenable tunes, I can avoid some tunes and I'm doin' fine. It's just that I don't see a good reason to grant this any score above 60%, probably even lower.