Artension
Future World

April 2005
Released: 2005, Lion Music
Rating: 3.0/5
Reviewer: Waspman

This is my first encounter with keyboard sensation Vitaij Kuprij’s Artension project, despite the fact that FUTURE WORLD is the band’s seventh release. I knew was a “super-group” of sorts, featuring Royal Hunt’s John West on vocals, drum god Mike Terrana on drums, with one Roger Staffelbach on guitars. The bass position had been manned by Kevin Chown, but he has departed, so for this release the band recruited none other than Mr. Bass for Hire – Steve DiGiorgio. If that’s not a lineup to tempt you, nothing will. Needless to say, I was quite eager to hear what the band had in store.

Beginning with “Dark Before Dawn”, FUTURE WORLD immediately kicks into gear with an upbeat proggy power metal song – it works, features the expected excellent musicianship, but is nothing too special overall. Unfortunately, the same thing can be said about this album as a whole – fairly average prog/power metal that really doesn’t capture the listener at all. It’s clinically impressive, but nothing is conveyed. Plus, there are way too many keyboard wank-offs on here. I know that its Vitalij’s baby, but still. Was it really necessary to end the disc with TWO keyboard solos? Really? The guy is talented for sure, but on this album, the songwriting skills are definitely not up to par.

That said, there are some good songs on here, like “The Day of Judgement”, and “Stand & Fight”, but on the whole I don’t ever see myself listening to this album again. It’s good, but there are just too many better CDs out there (even in their own genre!) that kill FUTURE WORLD dead. Remember guys, technical proficiency isn’t everything.