Metaphor from San Francisco were previously a Genesis tribute band, that has now ventured forth with there own innovative material. This debut is a majestic montage of progressive rock styles that has maturity that one would expect several releases down a band's career.
The opening track, "Ladder from the Sky," is an exquisite piece of the classic 70's progressive rock filled to the brim with overwhelming guitar work by Malcolm Smith and superb lush keyboard pitches from Marc Spooner combined with the versatile vocal chords of John Mabry. There is no let up with the second song, "Chaos with a Crown of Gold," which develops a hard edge intertwined with a slow moving haunting melody that drifts towards the neo-prog bands like Leviathan, or Asgard for example.
However, Metaphor don't at any point attempt to become slaves to any particular progressive niche, rather they produce individual crafted songs that work extremely well throughout this epic conceptual work. For myself, whether you admire the complex music created by Anglagard, or neo-progrock bands like Marillion, IQ, or American groups like Roots of Consciousness, Glass Hammer, and/or simply miss the Gabriel era of Genesis, I guarantee you won't be disappointed with this offering. I just can't wait for the next release due next year.