Portuguese band Framepictures was formed in 2004. I would almost call these guys Dream Theater-clones, but fortunately they also have a musical identity of their own. The album is packed with magnificent prog metal clichés like dated and emphatic keyboards, angry and staccato guitar riffs, lots of bombastic passages and of course the falsetto voice of singer Tiago Delgado. The album opens with the amazing Memories Faded Away featuring an explicit DT-intro with a sparkling guitar solo and some rather heavy riffs. What an opener! The second highlight is the 25-minute conceptual epic track My Will To Live, which is divided into seven parts. In this epic you’ll find everything you need for an excellent prog rock song. However, in my opinion the other five songs on this debut are not as good as the aforementioned tracks as they mostly lack originality and diversity. Don’t get me wrong! These five guys can certainly play, but sometimes it’s a bit over the top, I think. However, if you take into consideration that this is a debut album, Framepictures is a promising band of which we can expect a lot. If you like Dream Theater then you’ll love Framepictures as well. I’m really looking forward to see these guys in the flesh. If you only listen to tracks 1 and 7 you will be a fan immediately; if you listen to the other songs you will be a bit disappointed... So, I’ve got an advice here: play Memories Faded Away first and as loud as possible! ***+ Martien Koolen (edited by Peter Willemsen) Where to buy? |
