POVERTY'S NO CRIME ‘The Chemical Chaos’ (Inside Out IOMCD143) (2003)
The first time I have ever listened to Poverty's No Crime was in Athens
while they were on tour with Virgin Steele. Even though they were the
support act they quite easily managed to win over the hot-blooded Greek
audience, and believe me when I say that this is quite a difficult task to
achieve. For some unknown reason I never bought any of their albums and
their recent release "The Chemical Chaos" made me realise what a fool I
was for not doing so.
What we have here is a collection of nine songs filled with beautiful melodies and plenty of talent from all the members
of the band. Their main influences which are traceable throughout this CD
are Rush (I wonder if I'll ever find a Progressive band which will not be
influenced by them) and Dream Theater. Poverty's No Crime managed to
overcome the syndrome " I'll try to copy my favourite artists" and created
a concept album based on how the sequence of chemical and psychological
processes which take place in the human body can determine our future
decisions in life. Quite an interesting concept but unfortunately the
promotional copy doesn't have the lyrics of the album. If you expect me to
give you a short list of my favourite songs...well...don't hold your
breath! The band managed to maintain the same level of creativity
throughout the album.
That means when you decide to push the play button your attention
will definitely be occupied for the next 60 minutes. The opening track of
the album "Walk Into Nowhere" is the best introduction to this magical
concept. A beautiful atmospheric intro and then comes "the riff". It's
really amazing that it takes such a short time for a good album to win you
over. Things only get better with "Every Kind Of Life", the most 'Dream
Theaterish' song of the album. "All Mind's Is One" is a song which could
have easily been written by Evergrey (another great band) and same applies
for "A World Without Me".
The parade of brilliant songs continues with "Terminal Trip" (great intro - interesting choice of sounds) and "Pact
With The Past". The last three songs of the album "Left To Chance",
"Moving Target" and "Do What You Feel" will just prove that Poverty's No
Crime is a band worth listening to by all you Progressive maniacs out
there! The promo I received also contains an acoustic version of "Access
Denied" as a bonus track. Jason, remember that list with my five favourite
albums of 2003? Well...can we do something to add Poverty's No Crime ? Oh
God, I hope it's not too late...
***** Out of this world | **** Pretty
damn fine |
*** OK, approach with caution unless you are a fan |
** Instant bargain bin fodder | * Ugly. Just ugly
