Band:	Corpus
Album:	The Rise
Style:	Progressive metal
Release date:	December 04, 2008
A review by:	Bas

01. Captatio Benevolentiae
02. Where I Am
03. Sophie's World
04. The Fatekeeper
05. Where I Was (Reminiscences)
06. Heartless, Part 1: Autumn Rain
07. Heartless, Part 2: Stop Haunting Me
08. Heartless, Part 3: Corridor Of Wolves
09. Heartless, Part 4: My Gift
10. The Reason Why
11. Disconnect
12. Where She Is
13. Losing the Shackles

There are some records that, when you listen to them very closely, make you think "this is pretty good stuff". However only a few seconds later, your thoughts drift away from the music again. Suddenly you realise that you've not been listening to it at all for the last minutes and have absolutely no idea what happened. It's the kind of record that fails to impress you despite competent musicianship. It's the kind of record that seems to sound the same during the whole album, even though you clearly recognize a wide range of mood and tempo shifts. Yes, it's the kind of record like Corpus - The Rise.

Corpus make a dark, emotional and very melodic kind of music. While their sound is extremely keyboard-oriented, The Rise was recorded with the help of a guest-keyboardist. Vocal-wise there are a few excellent passages (the wonderful chorus of 'Autumn Rain' comes to mind) but most of the time the vocals just don't live up to the expectations this kind of music dictates.

The members of Corpus seem to be talented musicians with a clear vision of the music they want to create. However to be successful their music definitely has to be easier to access. They need to find out, how to write catchy refrains and they'll need to employ more different elements in their music for wider variation in-between songs. Further the production seems a bit lacking in places.

While most of this review might have sounded quite negative, The Rise surely isn't all bad. The album definitely has its moments and some of the darkest and most emotional parts really manage to carry the weight. As I said before the musicians are competent enough to handle the music and I can easily imagine that people who like the vocals can really get into it. If this is your kind of music, give it a shot.

Personally I think Corpus can do vastly better than this. I hope they'll sharpen their songwriting skills for the next album and perhaps they'll become a big thing in the progressive scene sooner or later. The Rise however won't get them there.