RING OF GYGES
RING OF GYGES “Metamorphosis”
By Dr. Abner Mality
The land of geysers, Iceland, has been producing a lot of black metal recently, but here’s something against the grain. RING OF GYGES put themselves squarely in the prog metal camp and their press makes much of their love of 70’s prog bands.
It doesn’t take too long to figure out that R.O.G. is yet another band drawing a ton of influence from the ubiquitous DREAM THEATER. That touch is all over “Metamorphosis”, with some dollops of HAKEN also included. The smooth as glass vocals are much in the mode of James Labrie and they are often just as sweet and treacly. The early tracks here like “Dragonflies” and “Cabin Fever” are very much DREAM THEATER in terms of structure...”Nautilus” is a little darker and heavier, with some attempts even at growling vocals. A real highlight is the energetic and sprightly “Go”, which has some wonderful bass-drum interplay and a playful feeling throughout.
Then things hit a bump with the ho-hum ballad “The Choice” and the flat and unengaging “Holy Water”. I’m not sure the album ever wholly recovers, although there are definite high spots yet to be found. The 11 minute colossus “The Face of God” is very uneven...the climax is terrific, but it wanders vaguely before getting there. “Sea Legs” starts with a delightful metallic take on a seaman’s jig but it eventually turns into just another DREAM THEATER type tune. “Find Me Here” ends the album on a fairly upbeat note.
Ultimately, RING OF GYGES don’t bring a lot that’s new to the prog metal table, but they play well enough to appeal to fans of the more established prog metal acts. I was kind of hoping the 70’s touches would be more pronounced.