METAMORPHOSIS - DARK - 2009

There are many positive facets to this fourth production by Swiss act Metamorphosis. Originality isn't among them though; the musical landscapes explored here will be highly familiar to most fans of the genre.

In these 8 tunes, most of them just a couple of minutes shy of being epics, the band takes their cues from late 70's Pink Floyd; where pleasant and relatively straightforward passages are spiced up with spacey fluctuating synth layers and organ in compositions starting of slow and gentle and then gradually evolving through several stages to end up as richly textured majestic excursions with more than a fair bit of pomposity thrown in for good measure.

To add some additional flavouring to the proceedings atmopsheric solo guitars and the occasional symphonic expression is thrown in to the sonic tapestry; in a style and manner pointing back to symphonic prog in general and the Neo variety of it in particular.

The songs are well made and performed; the themes and their developoment show good quality - and as long as you don't mind the overall derivative sound explored this is a good album, in particular if you like the idea of music inspired by late 70's Pink Floyd given a few symphonic embellishments.