CoC : Empty Tremor - Apocolokyntosys : Review

Empty Tremor - _Apocolokyntosys_
(Rising Sun, 1997)
by: Brian Meloon (7 out of 10)

Empty Tremor are an Italian progmetal band. They are professional, and good at what they do. The only problem is that what they do has been done before. In 1992, by Dream Theater, to be exact. There are places on this CD where they blatantly rip off Dream Theater. In fact, the whole album lacks originality. And yet, it's still a decent album. It avoids much of the cheesiness of DT, but does have it's share of light parts. The keyboards, guitars, and bass and drums are all good: occasionally flashy, but always solid. The songs are reasonably intricate, but not reaching the acrobatic DT/Altura style. There are usually multiple sections to each song, and they flow well. The production is clean and strong. The only weak link are the vocals, which sound a little flat at times. On the other hand, he does have a good, strong voice. So it might be the fault of the vocal lines, which don't fit the music very well. This is a good album, but needs some originality to stand above the crowd. DT fans should eat it up, especially if they were unhappy with _Awake_ and _FIF_.

(article published 5/2/1997)