Redemption - The Fullness of Time
- Released: 2005
- Label: Sensory
- Rating:
Perfection. How does one define perfection? Is it the innocence of a child? Is it that day you finally see that person who gave you a hard time in school get what’s coming to him? Is it that moment of self-discovery when you can honestly turn to the mirror and say “this is who I am”?
Pain. What is pain? Is it the loss of innocence? The day your precious one left you? The memories of fear and anxiety about the next day in life? The struggle within, fighting to end a charade? Perfection and pain seem to be on the same side of a coin – perfection can only be attained through pain. Take part in a musical journey that leads you through the deepest reaches of your memory, into all things perfect and painful that have passed through your life…all the things you would rather forget, yet all things which you have surpassed.
The Fullness of Time covers all things I have mentioned above. This is not music for music’s sake. Far from it, this is art and pure emotion recorded onto a little plastic circle. It is a musical vortex into one’s own life, and whether you like it or not, memories will come flooding back to you upon listening no matter how hard you try to block them. Images will appear in your mind as you listen to some of the most sincere, inspirational, depressing, intense, human lyrics you will ever hear. This is more than a simple means of entertainment, it is an experience.
The album features Ray Alder (of Fates Warning fame) doing vocals for this album. He was obviously born to make this album, as his vocals even reach my heart. Needless to say it’s one of the best vocal performances I have ever heard. Fullness is a concept album about one’s self-reflections, and also ventures into bits and pieces of his life. Love, loss, betrayal – it’s all here. While the story deals with one person, anyone can relate to and feel this.
I remember that it was a gray, cold, October afternoon when I popped this sucker on. Everything just seemed to be gray. The streets were empty and not a sound was to be heard but the rustling wind. I had originally gone out to just take a walk to the convenience store to pick up a pack of smokes, but my small walk turned into a journey of self-reflection. I began walking after acknowledging what a day it was and pressed the play button.
The album begins with what is easily the weakest track on the album, but don’t let that fool you. Prog-metal crunchy riffs that slightly resembled Symphony X started blazing through my headphone speakers. I am NOT a Symphony X fan. Feeling unimpressed, I began to walk faster and give less attention to the music and I had felt like I just bought another carbon copy. How wrong I was. As soon as Ray spoke his first word I was hooked and heavily into the music. “Threads” (the first track) is hard to relate to and a lousy opener as it DOES NOT set a mood at all. Maybe it was intentional, because this is in no way a sign of what’s to come.
As the track ended I had come to the middle of my sister street and “Parkers Eyes” began playing. This is where I got totally sucked in. This is an incredibly touching song; it’s soft and melodic yet powerful. The song is about the innocence of one’s childhood and the inevitable shattering of that innocence. The lyrics deal with September 11th and the effect it had on everyone.
“Scarred” follows next – an angry firecracker filled with hate, pain and angst. This track deals with one’s pressure from society and the rejection that comes. We’ve all gone through some stage of our life when we were rejected and persecuted by others and we must kill some of our emotion to deal with it, but in the end you still know that you can make it out. This track will depress you as much as it will anger you. The power in Ray’s voice is astounding on this track as is the main riff.
The world seemed to vanish around me as I was so lost in the music. I walked right past the convenience store – intentionally of course. Next up was “Sapphire”, an epic 10 minute track that doesn’t get tedious for a second. The lyrics on this track are among the best ever written, as is the performance by Ray. The musicianship on this track is so super-tight with the melodies totally adding to the power of this track. It’s moving, man…so moving, it’ll send chills down your spine.
“Rage” is just a piss off. The opening intro is one of the best intross I’ve ever heard. It’s like a whole different album begins. The intro is spoken word and the voice sounds like a cold, bitter, twisted old man speaking about what he believes in. The more he speaks the more infuriated he becomes until he’s finally yelling his beliefs in pain and cruelty. He ends with a verbal assault against the listener and an angry, angry riff is played. The mood is set perfectly for this through the fast, pumping pace which is an interesting contradiction to what has previously been heard. Ray’s vocals aren’t aggressive enough for this track, but this does little to affect its power.
Y’know what? Screw describing the other tracks, you’re better off finding out for yourself. The quality doesn’t decline in the album at all though as it goes on, every single track is a winner and not a second is wasted. This was my #1 album pick for 2005 and it should be owned by every fan of progressive metal. Every damn thing about this album is perfect (except “Threads”) and I’ll be damned if you disagree.
http://www.ivorygate.com/redemption
Brent C. | 08/12/2006