Equator is the debut album from one-man
progressive rock/metal band Atropos Project. John Quarles, the main member of
the band, wrote to me requesting a review of his album. I was happy to find
that my first requested album to review was a very good piece of music.
A pitfall of progressive rock is that it can meander
too far off in its musical meanderings. Quarles manages to avoid this for the
most part. A passage outstays its welcome here and there, but he is on the right
path to balancing meandering with keeping the music interesting. Tempo changes
and quiet interludes add interest to the tracks while maintaining coherency.
John also mixes heavy metal –style distorted guitars in with the progressive
rock, which works very well.
I picked up a diverse range of influences in the
guitar work. I heard passages that reminded me of Carlos Santana, Opeth, Rush
and even Megadeth. F.A.C contains
both Opeth-like riffs and a Santana-like solo. I could also hear Santana
influences in the opening riff of Drudgery.
The latter also had a metal-tinged passage which reminded me of the Megadeth
track Angry Again. Suspiria had parts which reminded me of
Rush.
The drums sounded somewhat unnatural in places, like
on the track Deadfall. However, the
programmed drums fit well in the context of the tracks which contain ethereal,
spacey keyboard effects. Inception’s
Promise and F.A.C. made me
picture travelling past the planets of the universe, as did Suspiria. Audible bass is always a good
thing on an album, and its role in adding strength to a track shouldn’t be
underestimated. Equator contains some
great bass lines, as on Deadfall and Spiralling. The bass line on the latter
has an interesting effect on it, and layers well the guitar riffs.
Atropos Project shows promise with this debut release;
moments of brilliance can be found here and there. I look forward to hearing
future material.
Personnel:
All instruments – John Quarles
Additional guitars and keyboards – Mark Morris (on F.A.C)
Additional guitar – Larry McClenon (on Spiralling)
Pedal steel, dobro and slide guitar – Gary Richardi
(on And…Lift)
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