Thursday, April 14, 2011

Album Review: Last Chance To Reason-Level 2

Concept albums can be a tricky thing to pull off. A lot of acts fail miserably when attempting concept records and others thrive. Last Chance To Reason falls in the latter category with the creative prog-metal blast that is Level 2.

Last Chance To Reason's concept is video games (hence the name Level 2). The video game concept adds a lot of excitement to the record. The video-game inspired manic synths adds this layer to the unpredictable temp changes that Last Chance To Reason lays down throughout the record. A thing that really stood out about Last Chance To Reason was their use of clean vocals. The clean vocals are very prominent and they are outstanding. At times they actually reminded me of Tommy Rodgers of Between The Buried and Me. Mike Lassard's range is vast and he hits just about every octave known to man on this record with ease. The progressive vibe is prominent throughout, but there are moments of ridiculous shredding. The solos on this record are technical and really fucking good. These moments enhance Last Chance To Reason's sound even more and adds this additional layer of unpredictability.

Level 2 is a near-perfect blend of progressive and technical metal. It's great use of clean vocals, shredding guitars, and spastic synths make the listening experience an adventure. Throw in the fact this a concept record about video games, what's not awesome about that? Last Chance To Reason is my top new band discovery of 2011 so far and Level 2 has instantly made me a fan.

4/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Apotheosis
2.Coded To Fail
3.The Parabolic

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