MAGNITUDE 9 - CHAOS TO CONTROL - 1998

Chaos To Control is the debut album from American progressive metal band Magnitude 9. I´ve seen this album in Inside Out´s catalogues for many years and finally got a chance to buy it. It´s one of the better progressive metal purchases I´ve done in some time.

The music is very typical progressive metal with heavy hard edged riffs and shredding solo work like Symphony X, keyboards ala Dream Theater and a more soft approach in some of the parts that reminds me of Fates Warning. I know this sounds generic and it is sometimes, but Magnitude 9 is better than most other clone bands I´ve encountered. I especially enjoy the shredding guitar work from Rob Johnson. He is a very skilled guitarist. The songs are pretty good with some good ideas and a few surprises along the way. As with many other progressive metal releases the music does become a bit trivial near the end of the album and I really wish for more experimentation.

The musicianship is really good and the production is pretty good too.

The cover art is really bad. It´s not a good way to sell your product.

Chaos to Control is an above average progressive metal album that deserves 3 stars. Had Magnitude 9 worked more with a personal sound this could easily have been a 4 star album, but many of the ideas on Chaos to Control have been used before by some of the above mentioned bands and the biggest problem is that those bands have used them much better. Chaos to Control is still an enjoyable album and recommendable to fans of progressive metal. Just don´t expect something very original.

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