L.A.'s Prototype was formed in 1994 from the ashes of of the thrash metal band Psychosis. Kragen Lum (guitar) and Vince Levalois (vocals, guitar) got together to record Seed, their first demo recording. In 2002, they recorded their first full length album Trinity. After the original label folded, putting the release of the album in jeopardy, Massacre Records stepped in and agreed to release the album in early 2004. With this new album Continuum, Prototype continues with their brand of progressive thrash metal but with more focus on melodies than ever before. The result is a blend of heavy riff laden metal that shows similarities to old school Metallica, Megadeth and Testament but with the melodic sense of bands like Rage and Angel Dust.
The opening track, The Way It Ends pretty much sums up what Prototype is all about. Speedy double bass drumming drives the guitar riffs and a melodic Rage like chorus complete with a few backing death metal screams makes for a great album opener. Velocity Seed again uses the Rage style vocals and chorus sections with chugging riffs and eerie atmospheric Queensryche guitar passages. The Rage style once again shows itself with the track Heart Machine as it mixes speedy thrash metal riffs with a great sense of melody for the vocals and choruses. Devotion shows more of an Angel Dust influence with the vocals and combined with the mix of clean guitar passages and heavy riffs, the more progressive elements of this band's sound begin to appear. Synthespian offers the listener their brand of progressive metal complete with speedy tempos and thrashy guitar riffs.
Tracks like Probe bring the listener back to the And Justice For All period of Metallica with it's riffing style and vocals. The Metallica / Megadeth influences are once again heard with Transcendent Velocity complete with flurries of double bass drumming over chunky riffs. The abrupt rhythmic changes and dreamy segments once again stray a little more into prog metal territory. The last track, Cold Is This God is an ode to the classic Bay Area thrash metal of Metallica / Megadeth / Testament. It's not too surprising that these guys have actually recorded a killer version of Battery for a Metallica tribute album given the obvious Metallica influence on this album. But, even with the heavy and speedy riffs, the melodic sense is still ever present as are atmospheric passages and frequent tempo changes. Prototype is using it's past experience as a thrash metal band to try and breath some new life into the progressive metal genre. When one thinks of prog metal, immediately bands like Dream Theater and Symphony X come to mind. I'd like to think that bands like Angel Dust and Rage that although are much heavier, can still fall into that category as the riffing style and vocal melodies put it outside the standard heavy metal format. Prototype has tapped into this way of thinking to produce a very enjoyable album that will satisfy fans of both thrash metal and progressive metal. There are some great songs on this album and it seems like this band may be finally hitting their stride. Increasing the frequency of "great" songs for their next album is all that this band really needs.
http://www.metalreviews.com/reviews/detail.php3?id=3462
