Ring Of Fire - Lapse of Reality
King Records
Progressive Metal
14 songs (72:00)
Release year: 2004
Ring Of Fire, King Records
Reviewed by Keegan
Album of the month

Undoubtedly one of the most talented group of musicians, the previous bands of Ring of Fire’s members speaks for itself. From Planet X to Yngwie, the project, led by singer Mark Boals, guitarist Tony MacAlpine, and drummer Virgil Donati always had the necessary element to create something truly unique. However, due to lackluster production and rushed recordings, the band never truly recorded their definitive album. With the addition of fusion keyboardist Steve Weingart, the band has indeed recorded the album that all future works will be judged by.

Lapse of Reality opens with Weingart’s intro to Saint Fire, which sounds like 80s Rush. As soon as the song kicks in, I’m reminded of Queensryche, heavy on hooks and melodies. Regrettably, the end of MacAlpine’s solo fades into the background for a few seconds and becomes difficult to hear. A similarly catch song, Change follows. Despite some of the albums weakest lyrics, the song’s chorus is quite memorable, as is its guitar solo. The album becomes both more progressive and neoclassical with the next song. The prechorus of The Key features some choral vocals, similar to Symphony X. as with the previous tracks, The Key’s chorus is extremely catchy thanks to Boals’ excellent singing and Weingart’s keyboard, which he showcases immense ability with during the song’s solo sequence. While it’s a shame that Kuprij is no longer with the band, Weingart proves that he can both advance Ring of Fire’s sound and play a killer solo. One of the darker songs on the album, Darkfall follows. Great vocal harmonies and Weingart’s organ absolutely make this song. Halfway through, Darkfall takes a fusion-inspired turn, further making the song one of the best of the band’s career. You Were There is a piano ballad, and predictably features cheesy lyrics and a dramatic guitar solo. Although the song sounds like Journey, it breaks up the album, and gives the listener a break to prepare for the insanity that’s to come.

The intro to Perfect World is somewhat reminiscent of Nightwish, though it soon follows the style of the earlier songs on the album. Boals sings incredibly high throughout the song, but for the most part, he’s become a more low key vocalist. The following song, Don’t Know (What You’re Talking About is a blend of Metal, progressive rock, and fusion. Donati shows that he’s one of the finest drummers in prog, syncopating snare and ride whilst playing some speedy double bass. Faithfully finds Donati again displaying immense double bass prowess. This song also finds Weingart using more neo-progressive keyboard sounds, rather than the likewise excellent 80s styled sounds he used on previous tracks. One little Mystery features symphonic elements and a very interesting chorus. The tradeoff solos between Tony MacAlpine and Steve Weingart are equally impressive, though both never lose a sense of melody. The next song, like many others on the album, is drastically different from those that preceded it. Machine has an unpredictably industrial feel to it and is one of the band’s heaviest. Donati’s doubling of MacAlpine’s guitar with bass drums during the song’s chorus is extraordinary. Somehow, Boals manages to create a catchy melody for the strange chorus of Machine. Following the heaviness trend set by Machine, That Kind of Man sounds nearly like Alice in Chains, if they had been a progressive metal band. Donati is once again the star of the song’s solo section, providing explosive ground for Weingart and MacAlpine. The album’s title track is one of the most driving songs on Lapse of Reality. Bassist Phillip Bynoe adds tons of power to the song’s chorus; Boals again does an excellent job singing over an odd chorus. Unlike the previous songs, Lapse of Reality doesn’t break into any progressive insanity halfway through, though it remains impressive.

Currently, the album is only available in Japan and includes two bonus tracks. The first is a cover of Cream’s White Room. The band have definitely made the song their own, with MacAlpine’s constant soloing and the usual massive Ring of Fire chorus, although this song would have sounded more at home on their previous album, Dreamtower. The second bonus track, Isn't it Time, is one of the most straightforward heavy rock songs the band has written, despite Weingart’s keyboard insanity. Unfortunately, the songs incredibly catchy chorus sounds very familiar to that of The Key, causing it to lose some of it’s effect.

This time around, Ring of Fire has disposed of their most prevalent weakness, which had been present in each of their previous albums: bad production. Mark Boals himself impressively engineered the tracking sessions, doing a much better job than any of the band’s pervious producers had. Every song on Lapse of Reality sounds clear and huge, though there are enough textural layers of keyboards and guitars that the sound of the album evolves with each listen.

Lapse of Reality is without a doubt the band’s finest work to date. Continuing to evolve with each album, Ring of Fire have proven that they can hang with any band in progressive metal, both through musicianship and songwriting ability. Comparable to Dream Theater’s Images and Words, Lapse of Reality sets the bar for both Ring of Fire, and melodic progressive metal.

Killing Songs :
Saint Fire, Darkfall, Perfect World, Don't Know, Machine
Keegan quoted 95 / 100
Other albums by Ring Of Fire that we have reviewed:
Ring Of Fire - Battle Of Leningrad reviewed by Joel and quoted 85 / 100
Ring Of Fire - Dreamtower reviewed by Keegan and quoted 88 / 100
2 readers voted
Average:
 84
You did not vote yet.
Vote now

There are no replies yet to this review
Be the first one to post a reply!