Fans of bands as diverse as Dream Theater and Dimmu Borgir will no doubt be swooning when they hear Age of Silence, an astonishing new musical venture featuring members of such established Norwegian metal bands as Borknagar (vocalist Lazare), Khold (bassist Eikind), Emperor (drummer Hellhammer), Winds (keyboardist Andy Winter and guitarist Kobbergaard) and By Pale Light (guitarist Extant). Bleak yet richly textured, the melancholic melodies on Acceleration come alive, propelled by beautifully executed piano, slow-churning riffs, swirling synths and clean multi-tracked vocals. Age of Silence never ventures into pure black-metal territory, but this material boasts plenty of aggression and references to pagan folk music. Lyrically, Age of Silence gets a bit bogged down in grand ideas and unwieldy song titles - largely a result of the band's convoluted mission statement posted on its web site: "The project was founded with the purpose of studying mankind's behavior to gain deeper awareness and understanding of humanity and its thought-pattern, achieving comprehension of things not explainable, related to the way humans interact and communicate."
That must be a fancy Norwegian way of saying, "We're going to make one of the most unexpectedly impressive albums of 2004."
Track Listing:
1) Auditorium of Modern Movements
2) Acceleration
3) The Concept of Haste
4) A Song for D. Incorporated
5) The Green Office and the Dark Desk Drawer
6) The Flow at 09:30 a.m.
7) Of Concrete and Glass
8) 90-Degree Angles
9) I No Longer Know If I Am Mad
10) Synthetic, Fabricated, Calculated
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