Band:	Artension
Album:	Future World
Style:	Neoclassical progressive metal
Release date:	2004
A review by:	wrathchild

01. Dark Before The Dawn
02. The Day Of Judgement
03. Federation
04. Tree Of Knowledge
05. Prelude [Theme by J.S. Bach]
06. Future World
07. Close To The Sun
08. Take Me In Your Arms
09. Stand And Fight
10. I Really, Really Don't Care
11. Computer Heart [Japanese bonus]
12. Moonlight Sonata - 1st Movement [European bonus]

No talking, no drinking, no smoking, no cursing, no sexual intercourse, and absolutely no music!

Argh! It seems we're far from the happy Future World that Helloween promised us some years ago? With their new album, the band has exploited the futuristic aspect of their music a bit more. Not that Vitalij Kuprij, keyboard genius and mastermind behind all the music of this album, has overused keys and electronics, no no.

In fact, it shows the most from the coverart and the logo, which I find to be very poor. It reminds me of the now old board/video game Space Hulk, but the latter was excellent. If I mention this, it's because Vitalij's sound with Artension is closer to the "bip bip" of video games than to an orchestra, unlike most of the production nowadays.

That's what is really "neo"-classical in Artension's music. The solos played by Mr Kuprij and his fellow guitarist Roger Staffelbach are the only signs of classical composition in this album (apart from Kuprij's piano instrumentals 'Prelude' and 'I Really, Really Don't Care' - this track is the follow up of 'I Really Don't Care', last instrumental on their first album).
The rest is pure power metal, with riffless speed songs, insisting on chord progression along vocal lines. I've never really been a fan of John West, and this album is clearly not his best performance: Ordinary power metal lyrics, heard a thousand times before, easy to sing along.

Of course, the whole thing, music + lyrics, lacks variety a lot, and the lack of depth in the production explains part of this. The same sound, the same pitch throughout the album, with the possible exception of the acoustic passage of 'Tree Of Knowledge'.
Yet that doesn't mean it's a bad album.

There's something with the longest tracks of this album which is really appealing, probably because we can see all the talent from this impressive line-up. The songs 'The Day of Judgement', 'Federation', 'Tree of Knowledge', 'Future World' are really great pieces which you'll really enjoy if you're familiar with the genre. The remaining songs aren't bad, but in my opinion, you'll have to be a real power metal fan to love them.

All in all, Future World is a pleasant album from a not so known gathering of individual talents, which lacks a bit of ambition. When they'll finally release THE album, the world will bow at them, but that's not for now.