Course of Empire
Telepathic Last Words
TVT
Course of Empire sounds like a progressive metal band (in a very loose sense), daringly venturing into uncharted musical territories by combining the concept of progressive rock with other genres. Telepathic Last Words comes across as an experimental album, featuring a range of styles and musical instruments – “Houdini’s Blind” starts off with an exotic, snake-charmer’s-pipe-like sounding instrument with a Middle Eastern and Indian tinge, while “The Information” has a techno-industrial flavor to it. “Persian Song,” which is anything but Persian in style, is grungy and “Freaks” is punkish. Consequently, the guitar tone and style is varied throughout the record – from clean and melodic to punkish.
High points of the album: “Ride The Static,” nicely arranged with arpeggiated guitar parts and edgy rhythms, and “Captain Control,” with a catchy melody and chorus.
The unattractive part about the album is its weak vocals lacking the edge and energy, which is essentially required of a high-power band. It would also not kill the band to lose its techno-industrial sides, and make the music more technical with articulated instrumental parts.
