Frameshift – An Absence of Empathy
This release snuck by me, and probably quite a few other people too.
I paid a visit to Sebastian Bach’s myspace page after watching that Supergroup show he was in, on MTV, and found out about this one.
This is Sebastian Bach singing vocals for a Progressive Metal group.
Apparently, this is a concept album, ala Operation Mindcrime, but I haven’t dug into far enough to find out what the actual story is.
Amazingly, this is the best that Sebastian has sounded since the Skid Row CD – Slave to the Grind. This gives me hope that some new Skid Row sounding material could be on the horizon, if Bas ever gets around to doing it. This CD sounds nothing like Skid Row however.
This is Progressive Metal and will likely appeal more to fans of Dream Theater, Spock’s Beard, Vanden Plas, and Angra than it will Skid Row.
I don’t think the average listener is going to get into this on the first listen. This is one of those CD’s that take a couple of listens to grab you and pull you in.
After a few listens, there a certainly some stand out tracks:
Human Grain is probably the easiest listen. Just One More, and Miseducation are halfway decent prog rockers. Push the Button is growing on me. How Long Can I Resist is pretty good.
With this being a concept album, some of the songs get a bit too long, clocking in at over 9 minutes in length. As a whole, I find it hard to listen to the whole CD in one sitting, the initial three tracks are good, but then the pacing starts to slow down and it looses my attention. There are enough decent tracks on here worth giving this a spin or two.
This is definitely a CD for the Progressive Metal fans out there. Sebastian Bach fans may enjoy this too.
Rating :
Out of 10
Track Listing:
- Human Grain
- Just One More
- Miseducation
- I Killed You
- This is Gonna to Hurt
- Push the Button
- In an Empty Room
- Outcast
- Blade
- How Long Can I Resist
- When I Look Into My Eyes
- What Kind of Animal
Jorg,
I feel you need a slight correction. You say that Bach and Pauly got into a dispute (about song writing credit), true. You say that Bach is self-centered and arrogant, also true. Saying that Bach is money-hungry, however, is not in the least bit correct. Pauly himself even stated, and i quote:
“It’s in the principle — I understand this — but literally we’re talking about a few bucks here. I mean, not a few thousand, not a few hundred — a few dollars, which is what this is all about. But I understand it’s about the principle and not about how much money it is.”
So Bach clearly though, granted with a mind clouded by self-centredness and arrogance, that he was in the right.
yours sincerely,
that annoying, pedantic little girl
This has been on my “want list” for awhile now. The reviews have been very good for this album but the sudden bashing in the press but Bach. I’ll still try and get it though.
Hi Joerg,
Thanks for the interesting info. I can certainly believe that about Bach.
I also am not too sure about the conecpt, but if I remember it correctly from the interviews, always two songs belong together to reflect about some human abyss, like murder.
I agree that it gets tiresome after three or four songs, and recommend the first album with James LaBrie which is much easier to listen to. It’s also a theme album, based on Richard Dawkins’ books.
It should also be mentioned that Frameshift ist the project of Henning Pauly, and the singers are just guests for one album. While LaBrie was a nice guy, Bach and Pauly got into big fights after this recording, because well, to put it nicely, Bach is so self-centered and arrogant and money-hungry.