Force Of Progress is a German trio consisting of Hanspeter Hess (keys), Chris Grundmann (guitars, keys) and Markus Roth (keys), formed in 2016 and Redesign is their third album after Calculated Risk (2017, see review) and A Secret Place (2020, see review). Force Of Progress plays instrumental prog rock/metal in the veins of Dream Theater and Liquid Tension Experiment. On this new album you can enjoy six tracks and on five of them you can hear a different guitar player giving his solo and that makes this album even more varied. Redesign starts with a blast, as Ultra Conservation is an awesome song filled with rather fast keys and guitar passages; also check out the excellent guitar solo by Thorsten Praest (Coldseed and GUT), who released his first solo guitar album Driven in 2019. Viral Signs I - Ambassador Of Light is the first long track, clocking over ten minutes, and also the first highlight; the song is very powerful and energetic, and the middle part is packed with melodic, progressive passages. Next is the third track, featuring guitar picker Amadeusz Sektas; a very diverse song with howling keys solos making this one a real exciting prog track. Viral Signs II - Incident 3030 is the longest song of the album and also my personal favourite track of this album as it is a real epic prog rock/metal song with more than excellent guitar melodies/riffs and hymnal keyboard passages; you can even enjoy choir of monks on this glorious track. The title track ends this amazing album, a must for fans of instrumental prog metal and a must for fans of Dream Theater and Liquid Tension Experiment. Redesign is without any doubt one of the best instrumental albums I have heard this year. **** Martien Koolen (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
