Age of Nemesis: Terra Incognita

Age of Nemesis hail from Hungary, and have been around since the late 1990's, releasing a handful of albums in their native language to mild success. Now that they have hooked up with Magna Carta (the band released their debut on the label, Psychogiest early in 2006), the band are in the midst of getting their music heard on a much bigger scale. Terra Incognita was originally recorded in 2002, but the band, with the help of translater Peter Linka, went back into the studio and re-recorded the album with English lyrics and vocals. Singer Zoltan Kiss sounds right at home here, as his powerful pipes (a mixture of Jon Arch, James LaBrie, and Vanden Plas' Andy Kruntz) add plenty of majesty and passion to these complex and hook laden progressive metal songs.

It's no secret that the music of Dream Theater is a big inspiration to Age of Nemesis, so expect plenty of guitar shredding from Zoltan Fabian and keyboard frenzy from Gyorgy Nagy. The two work very well together, but it's not all about endless solos, as there's plenty of catchy and soaring melodies throughout Terra Icognita. Tunes like "Another Existence" and "Tree of Life" contain muscular riffs, tasty keys, shredding solos, unison passages, intricate rhythms, but most importantly loads of memorable melodies. Many of the tunes are in the 5-8 minute range, so expect some well thought out arrangements and lots of room for jaw-dropping solo spots and interplay. The album is a concept piece, with a story written by guitarist Fabian about a look at the afterlife, centering on the story of a girl who has since passed away.

After you make your way through Terra Incognita a few times, you'll uncover plenty of great progressive instrumentation and clever melodies, making for one very solid progressive metal album. Sure, Age of Nemesis dip into the Dream Theater bag a bit, as well as Symphony X, Vanden Plas, Rainbow, and Deep Purple, but it's all in good fun and a great listen if you like melodic, well played, technical, symphonic prog metal. Glad to see Magna Carta still pumping out some great product.

Track Listing

1. Tree Of Life
2. Meeting With The Unbelievable
3. The Land Of The Light
4. The Secret
5. Another Existence
6. Inner Fire
7. Inferno
8. Someone Must Take The Blame
9. Forgive Me My Foolish Crime
10. Why?
11. Bleeding Moon
12. Plummeting Into Eternity

Added: December 27th 2006
Reviewer: Pete Pardo
Score:
Related Link: Magna Carta Records
Hits: 4534
Language: english

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