A.C.T. - Today's Report | ||
Tracks:
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Album Cover: ![[Image]](../../Images/act.jpg) |
Label: Major MTM Music Producer: A.C.T. Year: 1999 Total Playing Time: 53:48 m:s Review date: 26 October 1999 |
| Web site: www.pi.se/mtm , www.actworld.nu
Email: | ||
| Rating: 6.5 | ||
| Verdict: A good idea hampered by lack of variety. | ||
| MTM are obviously trying to diversify their roster by signing young Swedish progressive/pomp merchants A.C.T. However, the fact that MTM are an AOR label at heart should give you a clue that A.C.T aren't quite your average prog-heads. It should also be remembered that MTM released the Storming Heaven album which could best be described as melodic rock with a few progressive tendencies.
When I inserted this in the player and started listening, Saga were the first band that I thought of as a comparison, mainly because I couldn't think of any other band today that successfully combines AOR and progressive music. No progressive band can escape the influence of the ubiquitous Dream Theater these days, and A.C.T. are no exception, although they don't borrow all that heavily. Having just read an interview with the band, other influences upon the band that I didn't pick up on are ELO, Kansas and City Boy. The band's sound relies heavily on keyboards and there is plenty going on in every song, so yes tempo changes feature heavily. The lead vocalist sings in the higher resisters, which helps give the progressive/pomp feel the album. A really long song, yes again, tracks 9 to 15 are all part of one song. Where A.C.T. differ from others in this field is that they are more song orientated than most and I'm sure that is what attracted MTM to the band. At this point in a review I quite often start describing each song on an album. In A.C.T.'s case this is difficult because the majority of the songs sound similar. "Why Bother" reminds me of the AOR style numbers of DT's Images & Words and this helped it stand out. On the title track snippets of TV news are interspersed with some very DT like instrumental passages. Looking at the liner notes, at least the guys don't take it all to seriously as they've got a little comment about one of the instrumental passages - "too many notes?". "Cat Eyes" has got a ragtime start and the whole style reminds me of The Enid. A combination the City Boy track "Ambition" from "The Day The Earth Caught Fire" and the Beatle's "Abbey Road" were the inspiration for "Personalities". It is a mixture of what I'll call pop-pomp and quirky lyrics, that isn't as daunting as many multi-part pieces. I seemed to have picked up on the DT aspects of the album, but overall Saga are probably the overriding influence and in fact the band have been the opening act for Saga. There is no doubt that A.C.T. are talented musicians and they do a good job of taking slightly retro style of music and still managing to sound like a new 90s band. I like Dream Theater and some Saga, but most other progressive music leaves me cold. When it comes to A.C.T., I like the idea, but the execution on this debut I can't quite warm to as much as I would like to. The whole album sounds 'samey' with individual songs indistinguishable from their neighbours. I'd like to seen more diversity between songs, rather than tempo changes within songs. | ||
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