Whenever I hear a new prog album from a band I’m unfamiliar with my thoughts seem to automatically default to something like, “Ugggghhh here we go… Prepare for wankery overload.” I picture a bunch of soccer dads with competing soul patches and collections of 20+ guitars. I guess I’m just traumatized in that regard. But when I first put on the new Ice Age – Waves of Loss and Power I didn’t feel that way at all. I just felt… confused and kind of overwhelmed. “What the hell is going on here?” It’s incredibly technical and progressive. Their sound really jumps around from epic technical prog to songs with upbeat, almost 90’s alternative sort-of sounds to piano instrumentals that remind me of Elton John. I knew I was going to have to listen to this album quite a few times to give myself a chance to wrap my head around it.
Where to start?
The first few tracks are definitely my favorite. Complex, technical prog metal. Everyone has a chance to show off their skills but it’s surely not wankery. It’s thoughtful and well structured. Each one of these tracks takes you on a journey that in my case, was actually a bit of work on my part to grasp. There are many parts where you feel like it’s building up to something, then it gets chill again, repeats those kinds of parts a bit and them boooom. Satisfaction. The opening track, “The Needle’s Eye” is a great example of that kind of flow. Techy riffs into epic parts and middle eastern sounding licks reminiscent of Queensryche and then all of a sudden a Black Sabbath-sounding breakdown. And it all works! It flows really well. Check it out.
But then…
So after 4 tracks of great metal we get… 90’s alternative??? Well not really I guess, but the fifth track “All My Years” is just so poppy. Goofy opening riffs, cheeseball backing vocals in the chorus, and its less than 7 minutes. What the fuck? The next track after that, “Float Away” is much better but still has a strange Silverchair – Frogstomp sound to it. Not sure where they are trying to go with these 2 songs. Gotta make some for the soccer moms I guess?
Wrapping it up
Luckily Waves of Loss and Power doesn’t leave us with that lame feeling those last 2 tracks gave us. “To Say Goodbye, Part IV Remembrance” is a beautiful little piano-only instrumental where vocalist/keyboards Josh Pincus gets to show off his insane skills on the keys. And this track actually fits in! Closing the album out we have the insanely epic “To Say Goodbye, Part IV Water Child”. This chonker is 14 minutes long and its hard to believe when you’re listening to it. It goes by so fast and its a great way to close out this solid album.
Ice Age – Waves of Loss and Power will be released on CD and digitally through Laser’s Edge division Sensory Records on Friday, March 10th 2023. Pre-orders should be available here: https://www.lasercd.com/cd/waves-loss-and-power-preorder (It appears the page is down at the moment though)
Ice Age will also be performing at the 2023 edition of ProgPower USA. https://progpowerusa.com/