DARWIN'S RADIO - TEMPLATE FOR A GENERATION - 2009

A band that includes two members of Grey lady Down (bassist Sean Spear and keybords man Mark Westworth) but the main character here is Declan Burke. The guy is a good singer and tremendous guitarrist. Their first album didn´t move me enough to write a review. It had its moments, but clearly they lacked focus and a strong musical direction. Those problems were solved with Template For A Generation. In fact, they seem to buld a new genre: neo metal. The music is harder than your ordinary neo prog, but not as heavy as most prog metal acts like Symphony X , neither so complex.

Template For A Generation has only 3 tracks and 44 minutes of music, but it´s pretty strong work, with some great guitar work from Bruke, fine keyboards and a strong rhythm section. The sound reminds a little of the more progressive side of Dream Theatre (around the time of Metropolis Part II, to be more precise). Actually I was quite surprised of how they were so successful in scaping that style´cliches and building a sound of their own. The right production also helps a lot.

conclusion: a band to watch for. Their evolution from the first album is enormous and certainly they are very promising. It is powerful, emotional music with lots of good melodies and no unnecessary displays of virtuosity: it is technique used for the bigger picture. 4 stars at least.
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