Band:	Headspace
Album:	I Am Anonymous
Style:	Progressive metal, Progressive rock
Release date:	2012
A review by:	Milena

01. Stalled Armageddon
02. Fall Of America
03. Soldier
04. Die With A Bullet
05. In Hell's Name
06. Daddy Fucking Loves You
07. Invasion
08. The Big Day

Another hyped 2012 prog metal release, and another one quite worthy of the hype. Even though Headspace can be described simply as prog metal by numbers, that doesn't mean it's not fresh nor original, quite the contrary. There are still a lot of things that can be expressed in "metal with knots in the thread", and these lads know how to swing it.

I Am Anonymous is an effort by a group of friends, written and perfected over several years. Headspace gathered any time the musicians could catch a break from their other projects - especially the busiest of the bunch, Adam Wakeman (yes, that Wakeman) and Damian Wilson (Threshold, Star One, Ayreon) - and, according to the bio on their official site, they had no intentions of playing prog metal at first. It just came out of them. And you can hear each of these facts coming alive in their music. They sound relaxed and playful, inspired and happy to be doing what they're doing.

The band's biggest strength is their composing ability - each song is perfectly built from the ground up, an exciting ride from start to finish and there isn't a single part in any of them which overstays its welcome. Most of the songs are long and rewarding, especially the almost perfect prog epic "Daddy Fucking Loves You", though my personal favorite remains "In Hell's Name", which is a little shorter but equally well-put together. Most of the songs are mid-paced or faster, but Headspace is equally comfortable working in slower tempos, proven by the short ballad "Soldier" or occasional slower breaks such as the Riverside-ish part near the end of "Fall Of America".

As for musicianship itself, it unfortunately sucks.

Did anyone fall for that? No? I didn't expect you to, anyway. The musicianship is top notch. What I like most about the Rinaldi/Wakeman duo is that they go into solos exactly when you expect them and go ways you least expect them to go, with ever-changing keyboard patches providing variety and the solid metal guitar tone providing consistency in sound. Damian Wilson's voice has a unique quality, both delicate and powerful (just like the girl walking through a war zone on the album cover), and you're bound to be impressed by his emotional delivery - having such perfect, deep lyrics and groovy vocal melodies to work with makes him all the more enchanting.

I Am Anonymous made me remember why I fell in love with prog metal. Not that I needed such a reminder, but maybe there's some of you who do. Go check it out!