(Self Released) Total Time: 72:46
METRO SOCIETY come from Colorado USA and play progressive rock with metal elements and many mellow parts. They have direct references to Dream Theater, Vanden Plus and Spock`s Beard as the music of their debut album, “A Journey in Paris” has this particular direction and structure.
The band has put extra care in the concept story of the album which takes part in the Parisian metro and has as main characters a man and a woman. They even hired a poet, Chris Cree, to help them with the lyrics. There are a few pages explaining the story in their website, so if you are interested in concept progressive albums here is a nice and fresh example. Don`t expect to listen to some instrumental orgy in “A Journey in Paris”. In here you can enjoy mostly melancholic compositions with an excellent vocal performance by Corey Brown (Balance of Power). There are a few scattered metal explosions that spice up the album, but the majority of the songs are hypotonic and atmospheric that may sound a little bit boring to those who search something to move them. For me it was a nice intermission from some really good thrash releases that blew my mind lately. Especially the piano – voice “Within a Moment” song reminded me of Labyrinth`s similar magnificent efforts. Everybody has his sentimental moments every now and then and it is nice to have albums like that for the occasion. METRO SOCIETY is at their best in songs like that while when they go progressive metal all the way they are about average and without imagination.
“A Journey in Paris” is not an innovative record that will change the course of progressive, it moves in safe paths. It is a nice, honest and enjoyable release that has things to offer to the listener. The music is strongly attached to the story and punctuates the sequence of the emotions produced by it. If they invest more to their sound and improve their production we may have more to say about them in the future. Let`s hope that a company would come up and sign them, cause they need all the support and promotion they can get. They are surely better than many wannabes that have huge contracts.
