Bands Similar To Zero Hour?

General Zod said:
Not necessarily similar to Zero Hour. However, if you want great, technical Metal with amazing guitar work and strong vocals... Control Denied's The Fragile Art of Existence. It's a buy or die release.

Zod
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absolutely!

Twisted into Form does sound badass too
 
I guess I'll post this here, you guys might dig it. This was one of the reviews I did this week, but it's been done already! :Smug: Oh well, I got another one ready to go for this week, so here's the review (I can't let it go to waste):

NOVACT - TALES FROM THE SOUL (Progressive Rock/Metal)) - 95 / 100
novact%20-%20tales%20from%20the%20soul%20%28to%20those%20who%20understand%29.jpg


Ken Golden is the man! For those unaware, he is the owner of three separate labels under one roof. The Laser’s Edge focuses on progressive rock (White Willow, A Triggering Myth, Wobbler), Sensory is for progressive metal (Zero Hour, Redemption, Wastefall) and Free Electric Sound is set aside for progressive fusion (At War With Self). I praise him solely because everything I’ve heard from either label has been excellent. Ken Golden knows good prog when he hears it, and he doesn’t simply go for bands that sound the same. He often signs bands that offer something a bit different within the prog field. Behind The Curtain for example, sounds like no other prog band I’ve heard before. The same can be said about A Triggering Myth and even Wobbler, to an extent. Even if similarities exist, such as with Zero Hour and the upcoming Twisted Into Form, the music is always killer. Recently I came upon novAct, a prog-rock/metal outfit out of the Netherlands. I ordered Tales From The Soul shortly thereafter and it’s been in heavy rotation for the past two months.

The band formed in 2001 under the name Morgana-X. They released a three song live rehearsal demo, then a follow-up promo EP called Misunderstood—which Roy (guitars) kindly sent me; thanks, dude!. They then changed their named to novAct, showcased two tracks on a split compilation called Arnhem Trolleymetaal, and finally in 2005 released this, their first full-length, Tales From The Soul.

“Sharply Condemned” kicks things off with a heavy, driving riff, melodic bridges and a lush, heavy prog-rock tapestry coolly painted by Eddy Borremans’s outstanding vocals. Truly, it’s only when vocalist Eddy Borremans begins to sing that you realize there is something special about novAct. To say that Borremans is a unique vocalist in the rock/metal world is almost an understatement. I’ve read that he compares to Queensrÿche’s Geoff Tate, Pain Of Salvation’s Daniel Gildenlow, and Andy Kuntz from Vanden Plas and Abydos, among others. None are accurate, if you ask me. If I had to pinpoint a similarity in vocal style it would a heavier version of Roland Gift of the Fine Young Cannibals—gasp!—and the clean tones of the legendary Otis Redding. Maybe this isn’t the sort of thing a metal fan wants to hear, but that’s what I hear.

Tales From The Soul is, simply put, an amazing album. From progressive rock/metal anthems like “Hope And Fear,” the Jeff Buckley tribute “The Eternal,” “Path Of Daggers” and the heaviest track on the album, “The Rider,” to the more melodic songs like the goth-influenced “Flower,” it is clear novAct rival the greatest prog-rock/metal bands out there today. The slight gothic touches reminiscent of To/Die/For adds yet another dynamic that makes this band stand out from the pack. The interwoven guitars and keyboards create space for Borremans’s stunning vocals; the solo work is precise and fits perfectly, beautifully. The bass and drum work don’t go on any proggy tantrums, but they hold it all together, creating a solid foundation for the stars of the show: the guitars, keyboards and vocals.

Everything about this album is brilliant. From the music to the production, lyrics and artwork; it’s all outstanding. I’ve had this album for quite a while now, I’ve listened to it virtually every day since and its quality has not diminished yet, it sparkles brighter after each listen. Not only is this one of the best prog-rock/metal albums I’ve ever heard, its undoubtedly one of the best albums I’ve ever heard overall. Nothing more needs to be said. Ken Golden couldn’t have a more appropriate last name (clearly his first name is great, too), novAct and Tales From The Soul are both simply that: Golden.

MP3: The Rider, Eternal Life (different version taken from the Morgana-X Misunderstood promo) and novAct on MySpace

VIDEO: Sharply Condemned (Live) and The Rider (Live)

Note: In time these links will likely becoming outdated.
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This is the second time I've done this. I need to check before I review albums. Anyway, I contemplated giving this a 100 / 100. This is an amazing album from beginning to end.

Diggit!
 
I dont know why I've never been here before.You guys have just named about all of the great progressive discs that have come down the pipeline in the last few years.Lasercd has a stranglehold on technical metal discs recently.Some discs like Sikth are just not my bag,some are in my faves list; ZH,Wastefall,Sieges Even,Watchtower...but every band listed above are the most extreme of the technical progressive genre.
If you want to hear some interesting progressive jazz/metal,check out Razorwire Shrine on myspace.The Rodler brothers are into just about every band you've mentioned here,and they are extremely talented.The newer material that I've heard is much heavier than the stuff on myspace,but I don't know if they plan on releasing it or not.Its a tough market to get any type of sales with,so they are taking it slow.
 
Check out the new Mindflow - Mind Over Body This is just a awesome CD touches of POS and Dream Theater like Towers one of those albums you just want to go deeper and deeper into. The music has a real modern feel, vocals are great, musianship top class with great lyrics.
Twisted Into Form is also excellent a kind of more easy on the ears Spiral Architect not as complex but still very technical with lots of different ideas from Jazz and even world fusion. At times really intense and other times very reflective.
 
Thanks for the link spatch...I thought about doing it but that constituted too much work.Another band with the Rodler brothers many contributions on myspace is Mythologic.I personally dont care for the vocals,but there is a Fates Warning tendency to some of their material.
I'll let Chris know that theres a desire for heavier Razorwire material...maybe he'll give in and post a sample.
 
Just got Erotic Cakes by Guthrie Govan This has some really awasome playing by Guthrie and a very tight band; hard to really place where the music belongs in terms of genre as Guthrie can play nearly any kind of style of music with ease. Very muiscal if you like people like Shawn Lane Jeff Beck etc would be worth checking out.
http://www.abstractlogix.com/xcart/product.php?productid=21705&bestseller Check out sound clips
Not similar to Zero Hour in anyway really but thought some people here might like this
 
Hawk said:
This band sounds nothing like Zero Hour but is excellent!

http://www.myspace.com/officialsw

An very good fusion between prog-metal and more melodic sounds.
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Whoa! Excellent recommendation, dude! I've seen these guys mentioned before, never checked them out, though. They have similarities to Zero Hour, but they have a lot more power metal and AOR tendencies.

I like this a lot, though! They're going on the list! :kickass:
 
A few weeks back I did a full review of the latest Canvas Solaris, if anyone is interested.

CANVAS SOLARIS - PENUMBRA DIFFUSE (Instrumental Tech/Prog-Metal)) - 80 / 100
1987%20-%20penumbra%20diffuse.jpg


I am not a fan of instrumental albums.

Canvas Solaris was a name I began hearing after their Sensory debut, Penumbra Diffuse, was released this past January. The label website served me up an MP3 for the track Panoramic Long-Range Vertigo and I had to agree, this was a great track. A full album of this sort of thing, however, didnt intrigue me one bit. Musically this band was very much like Zero Hourone of the best bands Ive heard in the past ten yearsbut I pretty much assumed an album's worth of this sort of instrumental music would bore me silly. So I closed the door on this band, or, rather, I tried to.

As time went on, people kept suggesting them to me. Canvas Solaris just wouldnt go away. They were stalking me! Strangely enough, about two months ago I came across this album at a local record shop (Nuggets in Boston, Kenmore Square...GO!) for a whopping $2. I couldn't pass it up! Its most definitely worth the $2, I thought. Sure enough, it was worth it; worth more, in fact.

Penumbra Diffuse is a damn good album. What I like most about it is the fact that the band doesnt get excessive with anything, everything is precise. There is nothing self-indulgent about the songs, no excessive solos, noises or drumming to fill the space where vocals would normally be. While some songs are heavy, others are mellow with acoustic guitars and all manner of non-heavy instrumentation such as tabla, mandolin, clay drums and some light synthesizer work. It all flows seamlessly, melding metal with countless audio shapes and shifts that form a very solidly fused musical landscape. Precise.

Opening with Panoramic Long-Range Vertigo, the song bolsters some of the albums heaviest moments, shifting from the riff-heavy sound of label mates Zero Hour to some tribal drum interludes to some slight keyboard-injected pyschedelia. Accidents In Mutual Silence and To Fracture are the closest relatives to Panoramic Long-Range Vertigo, both mixing heavy riffs propelled by odd (read awe-inspiring) time signatures and lighter moments that recall new age and electronic dub. Vaihayasa is a Middle Eastern and Latin-flavored jaunt told by 6- and 12-string acoustics, supported and carried by myriad percussive instruments. That percussive support is further extended to Pyshotropic Resonance, by definition an example of organized chaos, orderly disorder; the song is all over the map, discordant, and typical of what I usually fear with instrumental albums, though it strangely works within the more strict confines of the album as a whole. Horizontal Radiant and Luminescence are the albums two epic tracks, the latter just a hair longer at an even 12:00. Horizontal Radiant shows itself from all angles, its heavy prog, its mellow prog (think Dan Swano's Unicorn releases), its got that new age vibe, rock, electronic undercurrents, synthesizers and percussion; a great song indeed. Not to be outshined, Luminescence takes a slightly subtler approach, it combines all the elements of Horizontal Radiant, but its an emotive song, it slowly builds itself up, crescendos, to only fall and rise again. Epic.

I still maintain my opinion of instrumental albums, Ive heard too many for one band to convert me, but Canvas Solaris got through my defenses in a big way. I barely notice that there aren't any vocals, which is generally the biggest hurdle for me. Since buying Penumbra Diffuse I have purchased their Spatial/Design EP and Sublimation from their old label, Tribunal Records ($10 for both, plus $4 S&H), and I am equally as pleased with both of them. Im not a complete convert, but Im now more open to the possibility. I do, however, find myself thinking of how much more amazing this band would be with a vocalistsomething they once had during the early days of the bandbut at the end of the day Canvas Solaris really have no need for a vocalist, their music says enough, and it comes with a glowing recommendation.

MP3: Panoramic Long-Range Vertigo

Note: In time these links will likely becoming outdated.
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It appears that the apostrophes and such didn't translate with the cut and paste. So, just so you know, I'm not that retarded!
 
Eyesore said:
Whoa! Excellent recommendation, dude!
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Thanks! I enjoy this album as well.

Eyesore said:
I've seen these guys mentioned before, never checked them out, though. They have similarities to Zero Hour, but they have a lot more power metal and AOR tendencies.
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Thats what I liked about them. See my review of the album here:

http://www.digital-steel.com/DS/index.php?headpage=albumrevs&id=101
Eyesore said:
I like this a lot, though! They're going on the list! :kickass:
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Cool! :headbang:
 
I know the one was mentioned but 2 bands:

Degree Absolute..Unreal album....Reminds me of old King Crimson and is quite jazzy but the music is incredible....Took forever but great album

TQR...The Quiet Room...Check out both of their albums and sadly they broke up years ago with the latest lead singer killing himself last year...(or the year before)...Awesome albums and both very different

lunatic:headbang:
 
Here's a little something I did for Wastefall's debut the other day. It's not a full review, just one of my mini-reviews.

WASTEFALL – FALLEN STARS AND RISING SCARS (Progressive Metal)
wastefall_fallenstars.jpg


I first heard Greece’s Wastefall by way of their latest release, the excellent Self Exile. Fallen Stars And Rising Scars is the band’s first release from 2003. Had I heard this album then I would have likely deemed it a virtual masterpiece! However, I heard the far superior Self Exile first, so I was somewhat disappointed with this one. Not so much because this is a bad album—far from it!—but because I know how great this band can be now that I’ve heard it on Self Exile. But again, had I heard this in 2003 I’d have humped the jewelcase!

This album features lots of heavy guitar work, but tons of acoustics, piano and melodic vocal work. The mix of heavy prog-metal with the melancholic, often Latin-like, acoustics is what truly sets this band apart from other prog bands. The album begins—and ends—with a baby crying, then barrels into “Killing Of Wolves,” one of the heaviest tracks on the album. Heaviness aside, the song still features a ton of dynamics, acoustic interludes, clean and aggressive vocals, piano, and a rousing chorus (one that mentions that band name). There are some awkward moments in the song, but overall it’s a damn good introduction. “Fall Of Eva” and “Annabel Lee” are beautiful ballads, the latter having a big Latin—or is it Mediterranean?—flare. “Subroutine” is an odd track that doesn’t work too well with its electronic-based groove and some ill-placed falsetto, but it’s not terrible. “April’s Ruin” is a great prog-metal jam with a lot of AOR and 70’s rock quirkiness. A few other tracks and two instrumentals (it wouldn’t be a prog album without an instrumental or two, or three!) round out the album.

The album still features everything that made their latest so great, but a bit less realized, fleshed out. However, aside from “Subroutine” there isn’t a single song I strongly dislike. The instrumentals are typical filler material, but not negatively so. It is simply a debut that does what many debuts do: it shows potential in a great way; a great album that paints the future bright. And with Self Exile it, indeed, turned out very bright (I’ve heard Soulrain 21, their sophomore release, is equally great)!

Rating: 70/100
Website: http://www.wastefall.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/wastefall
Downloads: April’s Ruin (Clip) and Killing Of Wolves (Clip)
 
Eyesore wrote
"I first heard Greece’s Wastefall by way of their latest release, the excellent Self Exile. Fallen Stars And Rising Scars is the band’s first release from 2003. Had I heard this album then I would have likely deemed it a virtual masterpiece! However, I heard the far superior Self Exile first, so I was somewhat disappointed with this one. Not so much because this is a bad album—far from it!—but because I know how great this band can be now that I’ve heard it on Self Exile. But again, had I heard this in 2003 I’d have humped the jewelcase! "
I always liked watching a band progress and develop and Wastefall has done this. Good review by the way to a excellenet band. Must admit I am more into the Soulrain 21 myself I like the way the violin is part of the music and the Greek melodies that sometimes shine through. Keep posting the reviews. #
Along with Zero Hour Mindflow Twisted Into Form and Fragile Vastness a band pushing progressive metal forward!!!
 
spatch said:
Along with Zero Hour Mindflow Twisted Into Form and Fragile Vastness a band pushing progressive metal forward!!!
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Ha! You know what I'm ordering tomorrow? Fragile Vastness! I was just on Sensory's page not an hour ago putting a million things into the evil Wish List and I stumbled across this band. I checked their website/myspace page and was thoroughly hooked!! Funny that you mention them now. Hehe.

I also saw that Mr. Golden has Soulrain 21 with the two bonus tracks! I'll be ordering that, too, because I haven't heard it yet. They're priced more than I like to pay for CDs, but I figure I won't be getting them any cheaper around here. In September I spent $139.15 at Sensory! Clearly I have a problem. :lol:
 
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