TANGENT PLANE - review added 23rd March 2011
Album Review: Project Elimi (2011)
For fans of: Progressive Metal... and walking to the globe
German based multinational band Tangent Plane - Jan Michaelis on vocals, Piero Pellegrino on guitars, Kostas Kontos on bass, Ralph Swan Krieger on keyboards, and Dennis Hoffmann on drums - formed in late 2007 / early 2008, and already have the self-distributed album "Among Grey Masks" to their name.
"Project Elimi", the first part of a trilogy (about what it's not entirely clear), is the band's first release on their new label 7Har). The album was mixed and mastered by C. Schmid and R.D. Liapakis (Mystic Prophecy, Orden Ogan). Artwork is by Jonas Kawalek (Mystic Prophecy, Devils Train)
Sound-wise, Tangent Plane are religiously proggy. They take the theatrical storytelling of Queensryche's "Operation Mindcrime" and move it to a whole new level...but not necessarily in a good way. It's hard to know what to make of this album because, on one hand, there are vast swathes of impressive technical metal musicianship and well thought out stories, then on the other the singing is VERY hit and miss and the songs lack cohesion and definition. To be honest the album is one big slab of music rather than individual tracks, and it's often a struggle to know where you are in the running order without actually checking.
It's hard to pick out and describe individual tracks because there's little to differentiate them. even after repeated listens I'm at a loss to pick out anything more than the odd standout riff, intelligent vocal passage or similar.
In Summation:
There's a lot of good and a lot of bad here. Take away the bad it would be stunning. Take away the good it would be bloody awful. In the end it'll probably come down to personal taste which half you focus your attention on.
Entertainment/Enjoyment:
Musicianship:
Vocals:
Song Writing:
Production:
Overall (Not An Average Of The Above):
Check out... The sheer scale of it...
Track List:
01. One Month In Real-Time
02. One With The Lies
03. Ice Age
04. Borrow Me Your Dullness
05. Do You Live
06. Deadborn
07. One Moment And The Murder After
08. Project Elimi
Label: 7Hard
Artist's website(s): Tangent Plane | MySpace | Facebook
