Planet Thirteen: Third from the Right

Planet Thirteen is the duo of Ray Zarate (vocals/keyboards) and Lance Benedict (all guitars/drums), who hail from Florida, and Third From the Right is their third release. A quick glimpse at the CD packaging gives the impression of professionalism, and the music contained here only confirms that initial opinion. The band plays a dark style of progressive metal, and influences from Rush, Fates Warning, Queensryche, Dream Theater, and bits of Black Sabbath can be heard in their music. With only six songs on the CD, and three of them exceeding 14-minutes in length, the listener can expect epic prog rock here.

The first two cuts here are big lengthy pieces, the better being "The Eyes of Deception", a moody number with outstanding guitar work from Benedict, and great dynamics created by Zarate's vocals. Fans of melodic prog rock will dig the atmospheric keyboard laden cover of "Superstar", a huge hit for The Carpenters, and there's no shortage of swagger and bombast on the metallic "The Quest", a song very reminiscent of Queensryche. The closing epic "Zero" is a symphonic prog metal opus with sweeping keyboards and big guitar sounds, as well as powerful vocals from Zarate. If the sounds of Dream Theater, Pain of Salvation, or Symphony X turn you on, this tune will be for you.

This is a very solid and commendable effort from this progressive duo, who really seem to have a knack for creating dark, epic progressive rock with plenty of metal power to it. They should be a band to look out for in the future, and I'm wondering if they have any intent to expand on the line-up and take this project out on the road any time soon.

Track Listing
1) Darker Side of You
2) Eyes of Deception
3) Superstar
4) The Quest
5) Rain
6) Zero

Added: May 27th 2007
Reviewer: Pete Pardo
Score:
Related Link: Planet Thirteen Website
Hits: 3401
Language: english

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