Friday, April 28, 2006

160. Ark / Burn The Sun. 2001. 4/5.

I went back in time, and got this album on the strength of Masterplan's debut effort, for which Jorn Lande had migrated to following the release of this, Ark's final installment with him behind the microphone.

It is hard to judge it now, knowing what Masterplan have done since. This is a very diverse effort, with a lot of conflicting styles interwoven. For instance, Absolute Zero features some whacked out, Stewart Coupland-esque drumming, Just A Little starts off with a Spanish Guitaring frenzy, Missing You starts out as a very Queen-or-Whitesnake-ish rock ballad type, before thrashing out towards the end. Mixed in with all of that is the kind of power metal songs that have made this band popular.

I don't really know how to take this album. Having it playing in the background tonight while at work, it was great to listen to. Sitting down and trying to sift through it song by song, however, brought other emotions to the process. If I was to try and get technical, I would say that this is a little too different in song style. However, I find that I still like it too much not to rank it higher than average. The musicianship is great, and Jorn's vocals are just fantastic.

Rating : I've decided to throw out the technical studying, and go with what my head was banging away to. 4/5.

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