With the success of OPETH, DREAM THEATER and TOOL it's no wonder that Prog Metal bands are crawling up out of obscurity and other bands (ENSLAVED) are using Prog to enhance their sound, producing some of the best albums of their careers. After all, Prog really isn't necessarily a definitive genre anymore, like, say, Brutal Death: it's more of a concept used to enhance the possibility of complicating music along intellectually challenging lines that refer back, mostly, to classical construction. This sounds boring, but in the hands of a master musician and songwriter, it is anything but. OPETH is a perfect example.

ALPHA GALATES, formally Metal band THE HOLLOW, is Canada's answer to the ever-enigmatic (are they Prog? Are they alternative?) TOOL. That is the short answer for anyone looking for short answers and a quick sound bite. Other obvious influences might be Thrash, KING CRIMSON, OPETH, maybe the odd VOIVOD disc, and Matthew Wagner, the drummer/vocalist/producer claims IRON MAIDEN as a major influence. Other critics cite PINK FLOYD as well, but that's pretty debatable. As is typical with many Prog bands, ALPHA GALATES takes risks, and they are good enough musicians that it almost always pays off. The problem is not the divergences or the subtleties, which work nicely with unique melodies and unusual instrumentation: it is the fact that they don't take enough and too often sound like TOOL clones (eg. "Darkest Eyes", which should have been their first single) without the dark cohesive menace that TOOL evinces.

Other problems come down to song writing and production. The debatable recording techniques have given the band a raw heart. But they have also lessened the ferocity of their attacks and increased the impression of everything being a cluttered menagerie rather than a cohesive and directed force as you would get with stronger choruses or at least a more distinctive underlying musical theme for each song. As it is, each song on its own is sort of interesting, but a whole 70 minutes tends to leave one's mind wondering what's for dinner, only to be brought back by some interesting snippet like the Dave Mustaine "Peace Sells" era vocals on "Subliminal" or the vocal harmonies of "Conformity".

That being said, EMI would be wise to stick with this band for a few more releases and let them grow into themselves and a more unique vision. They will be well worth the money and the time.