Origin:	Norway
Genres:	Progressive Metal

Age Of Silence

Age Of Silence features some of Norway's finest, many well known from other bands, coming together to produce some ambitious progressive/avant-garde metal music. This is a band that is very much a sum of its parts -- throw Winds, Solefald's vocals, and Arcturus (the calmer parts) into a blender and Age Of Silence might be the end result, with Winds being perhaps the closest soundalike of the three. Lars Nedland continues to be one of the most distinctive vocalists in metal, always lending an air of class to the proceedings, and Andy Winter's pianos play an important role here, just as they do in Winds. And of course workaholic drummer Hellhammer puts in another reliably fine percussive performance -- would anyone expect anything less from him? Lyrically, well, the titles indicate that there's a lot going on, arguably a tad pretentious perhaps, but certainly a welcome change from the usual mundane subjects. Since the majority of the members here play in a primary band elsewhere, it remains to be seen whether Age Of Silence will end up a short-lived side project or develop into a full-time occupation. Very well done.