Consortium Project: II - Continuum in Extremis

In his review of the most recent Consortium Project release Sea of Tranquillity's publisher Peter Pardo noted sagely that, "In the end, you either love this sort of thing or you don't." I happen to be in the former so I'm pretty pleased that those nice people at Lion Music are getting round to re-releasing all the work that has been issued under the Consortium Project banner. I enjoyed 1: Criminals & Kings and the newest release Species just crept into my list for 2011 and although this is my least favourite of the three there is plenty to recommend here.

Firstly, there is the powerful voice of Ian Parry which certainly made my wooden floors tremble as he sure has a mighty set of lungs on him. Secondly there is the excellent instrumentation throughout. Sometimes when reviewers make point like that they've run out of things to say but the work on II - Continuum in Extremis is top notch all the way through. Sure, there's plenty of bombast at work but there's also some lovely subtle keyboards at work on "Intrusions of Madness" for example.

There is a story behind the album (yikes, it's a concept album) and if you're into that kind of stuff (and chances you are or you'd be on a different website) then you'll be interested to know that the album is set in a fictional world going out of control, which is saved by women (Neofems), who prevent man from destroying the planet. If not, you can enjoy a powerful piece of progressive metal with two added bonus tracks which are adequate but possibly not a reason to buy this for a second time.

Track Listing:
01.Continuum (in extremis)
02.Asylum Seekers
03.The Catalyst 04.Intrusions of Madness 05.(Momentary) Lapse of Reason
06.Mirror Image
07.Sentiment In Sanctuary
08.What You Sow, You Reap
09.Asphyxia
10.Collide-O-Scope (When Past And Present Collide)
11.Poetic Justice
12.Intrusions Of Madness (bonus demo)
13.Poetic Justice (bonus demo)

Added: December 29th 2011
Reviewer: Simon Bray
Score:
Related Link: Ian Parry Website
Hits: 1977
Language: english

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