Sympathetic Resonance is the title of the electrifying debut effort from ARCH / MATHEOS, featuring FATES WARNING guitarist Jim Matheos. This reviewer clearly deems it one of the best progressive metal albums of 2011. Matheos blazes up the fretboard on the six tracks offered up here (including several that clock in at ten minutes in length), and he is perfectly complimented by the multi-octave range of partner-in-crime, original FATES WARNING vocalist John Arch. You can’t go too wrong filling the rest of your band out with the likes of bassist Joey Vera (ARMORED SAINT, ANTHRAX, FATES WARNING), and the hardest working drummer in metal today: Bobby Jarzombek (HALFORD, FATES WARNING, SEBASTIAN BACH… so strap yourself in, for the listener can expect to only be treated to what I feel truly is just about the highest level of musicianship going today in music period. In short, these cats smoke. This is an ultra-technical display that doesn’t come along very often. Yet, what I dig the most about what they’ve achieved here is that the compositions really are enhanced by the natural chemistry going on between singer Arch and the axe master Matheos. My favorites “Neurotically Wired” and “Stained Glass Sky”, shows that both clearly understand from the outset what fans of this kind of music want the most: plenty of high flying singing, along with completely out-of-this-world, laser-fast guitar riffs and face melting soloing. You get all that and more here for sure. I rarely give a collection of songs two plays in the same sitting, but I must confess that I will be even more addicted than that in the coming days and weeks as the well executed Sympathetic Resonance blares from my speakers for anyone within earshot to experience.
ROCKET REVIEW:
[starreview tpl=16]
ARCH / MATHEOS – “Sympathetic Resonance” (CD)
(Metal Blade Records/2011)
1. Neurotically Wired
2. Midnight Serenade
3. Stained Glass Sky
4. On the Fence
5. Any Given Day (Strangers Like Me)
6. Incense and Myrrh
http://www.archmatheos.com/
More Stories
ROCKET REVIEW: MICK MARS – “The Other Side Of Mars” (CD)
ROCKET REVIEW: NinémiA – “Weapons Of Math Destruction” (CD)
ROCKET REVIEW: METALLICA – “72 Seasons” (CD)