Ivanhoe - Systematrix (2013)

Why doesn't anyone I know in real life listen to progressive metal? Yeah, sure, Dream Theater, Rush, Queensrÿche, Opeth, and maybe a few might remember Fates Warning, but beyond that my offline existence is void of any discussion related to the niche whatsoever. Is it really such a dweeby hobby that its fans are self-relegated to internet whisperings and the brief annual turnout at a gig or two? Or is it just that I live in a hotbed of hardcore, metalcore, grindcore, death metal and whatever other metal bands can pick up some of that audience through scene osmosis...and not some land of plenty where Operation: Mindcrime, Images and Words and Perfect Symmetry are held up as some monumental trinity? Either way, groups like Ivanhoe continue to exist, record, tour, and expand upon the legacy of artists like those I mentioned earlier, even if they're rarely embodying the pioneering spirit of their sub-genre so much as milking it dry...

...and that is the long and short of what makes Systematrix, the Germans' sixth full-length outing in a 25 year career, both enjoyable in the moment, and sadly forgettable later. At its heights, Mischa Mang's silky but cutting vocals, and the glazes of beautiful ringing guitar harmonies congeal into a blissful barrage of moments redolent of Lifeline's highlights; yet it feels altogether too long (at just under an hour of material if you include the bonus tracks) and often settles itself into some stolid but unmemorable syncopated grooves circa the Moving Pictures and Counterparts camps, without escalating into an appropriately climactic chorus. Granted, it's well arranged with a nice layer of synthesizers that are used both as classically-tinged orchestration and 70s/80s inspired prog lines, so that the content never becomes too baseline or uninspired, and there are a few cases of risk taking like the tonal soft-rock/dark ambient/electroscape that supports Mang for the first few minutes of "Madhouse", or instrumentally in "The Symbiotic Predator: I - Seduction", but by and large, Systematrix is playing it safe, and any evolutionary gradation that might have existed over their prior works does seem to have come to a halt.

So Ivanhoe relies heavily on its musicianship, production and hooks, two of which are resplendent here in the tightly controlled jam-bridges where they almost never cross the precipice of righteous self-indulgence that a lot of Dream Theater disciples partake of, and the nice midsection punch and groove of the rhythms guitars that counterbalance Mang's distinct, sensual presence and the synthesizers. The bass is good and loud and they are unafraid to put a bit of grime on there where the guitars are harder hitting, not to mention that this guy (Giovanni Soulas) can keep up with anyone else in the band in terms of his technical ability and he is not afraid to let you hear that. Rhythm guitars are constructed from a lot of simpler patterns than you might expect in this field, but that's not to say they don't possess some variation, it's just that they too ably enable the melodies to instantly shine over them and create a lullaby effect with the pianos/keys (like the bridge to "Resolution"), where I'd love them to just ramp up the 'metalness' of the actual chords and palm mutes, perhaps intersperse some more blazing, acrobatic progressions.

At any rate, there are still some solid cuts among these that were written at the level of Lifelines or Walk in Mindfields, like the twisting and harmonious hybrids "Walldancer", "Tin Cans Liberty" and "Learning Path" which are all engaging enough that I kept spinning through them regardless of whether the chorus lines were as sticky-sweet as others they've unleashed in the past. It's difficult to imagine a broad audience for this partially because of my own regional vacuum where people would ask me (not kindly) to shut this off and put on a Tool record instead (ignorami!), but Systematrix is sure not to disappoint any fans of their other Mang-era releases or modern prog metal which establishes a balance between driving grooves and more ear friendly pianos and melodies. A more laid back counterpoint to a Pagans Mind or Angra. Too smooth where it occasionally needs an edge. A decent disc, but I'd so love to hear what this stable of musicians could produce if they would just rattle the cage, loosen the reigns, or bare their fangs a little more often.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://www.ivanhoe.de/

Ivanhoe - Lifeline (2008)

Much like Polarized put the first two albums of the Germans' earlier lineup to the whetstone and sharpened them to a gleaming finish, so too does Lifeline improve dramatically upon the direction Ivanhoe was taking with their post-hiatus effort Walk in Mindfields, to the point that this is overall their most formidable and consistent work to date. Mischa Mang's performance here is impressive, and the songs themselves are penned into a memorable panorama of contrasted melodies, grooves and uptempo twists that are both immediately accessible and difficult to forget many months after exposure. Now, I admit that there needs to be a moratorium on using female models posed as 'fairies' or 'angels (with present or clipped wings') on album covers, and Lifelife does indeed 'go there', but place aside such this lamentable choice in facade and you've got yourself one charmer of a progressive metal disc.

Just about every song here brings something new and refreshing to the table, with Mang's voice so engaged to the cornucopia of riffing that it wrings additional splendor out of even the simplest of grooves. Though the guitars still seem as enormous as Walk in Mindfields, they are far more controlled, surprising since they've got Chuck Schuler back in the line-up for this record, making them a six piece. But there's just enough restraint to never hamper the moody atmosphere of the synths. The simple, driving chugs that support "Mad Corner" escalate beautifully into the romance of the chorus, where on "Lifeline" itself this gorgeous melodic riff opens a barrage of choppy, memorable chords that allow both Mang and the organs to pour their souls out. I will say, though, that "Suffering" is my favorite song on this album, potentially ALL their albums, a piece that jerks between groovy, chug driven verses, thundering, epic pre-chorus and woozy, atmospheric chorus while the guitars strut their strings all over the place, escalating into one of the better leads I've heard in their entire canon.

That's a hard track to top, really, due to its perfect amalgamation of grace and power, and yet the Germans do not let up for the emotional "Angels Hologram" with its sparser percussion and light piano adorned verse, or the thudding grooves of "Time Machine" and "Finally". The latter half of the record seems to be stretched a bit, possibly due to the fact that it possesses the longer tracks (most are 6-8 minutes), and there are a few segments that miss the mark in terms of utmost, memorable quality, but once the album erupts into the more Eastern vibe of the epic Egyptian finale "Cheops", it all seems to come together as this truly solid, ambitious work that really binds all of the band's past into the 21st century context of the enormous production values. This thing sounds loud, with Mang's weighted, silken timbre the perfect balance to the sheer power of the chords. Stunningly, this doesn't seem to be so much studio tweaking as it is the band's sheer skill, because if you've seen live videos they sound quite close.

Ultimately, apart from the trite dalliance of its cover art, Lifeline is an incredibly mature album that demonstrates why so many more people need to check out this band. There are so many weapons at work here, from Soulas' pristine bass lines to Mang's distinct voice to the grooves and leads of the guitars. Really, if you've been waiting for your next Dream Theater or Fates Warning to come along, look no further. They aren't so flashy as the former or sultry as the latter, but they certainly scratch the itch for a niche that seems sadly underrated. Despite several videos, gigs at events like ProgPower in Europe, they don't seem to have culled the level of attention they deserve, so please, whether your tastes range from Pagan's Mind to Ark to Myrath, at least give this record a try.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10] (there is someone to be found)

http://www.ivanhoe-band.com/

Ivanhoe - Walk in Mindfields (2005)

If Walk in Mindfields proved to be somewhat less memorable an experience than its predecessor Polarized, I think it could largely have been written off due to the conditions of its arrival. After Andy B. Franck left the band in the later 90s to work with newer projects Symphorce and Brainstorm, the band more or less dissolved as a productive force. By the time they took a deal with Massacre to put out their fourth album, most of the lineup had been replaced. The heart and soul of the group, bassist Giovanni Soulas remained, as well as guitarist Achim Welsch, but aside from a few contributions from the earlier drummer Lars Hörnig, it was time for fresh blood in the form of Lanfear keyboardist Richard Seibel, drummer Sebastian Brauchle and, perhaps most importantly, vocalist Mischa Mang.

While this album largely follows in the footsteps of its predecessors, there were some notable changes in terms of how they delivered the music. The guitars for one feel far more groove leaden. Denser and richer in tone than they already were with Polarized, so there's this natural incline towards a heavier low end supported by the ruddier bass sound Soulas is punching in. The keys still play a huge role, supporting the rhythm section where necessity dictates but never afraid to break out on their own, and in truth this approach seems the perfect throne on which Mischa's smoother voice can sit. If asked to choose a favorite between Mang's style and Andy B. Franck, it would prove difficult, because while the latter had far better chorus parts on Polarized, he also had a voice that I could more clearly trace to its influences. Mischa feels fresh and inventive by comparison: fully capable of delivering a higher pitch or scream, but quite confident with his mid range and never even bordering on the overkill that I occasionally felt on the first two records.

Walk in Mindfields is admittedly quite tight, but few of the tracks here really knock me over with the same emotional force as "Souls of Fire" or "Whipping the Flies". Songs like "Bless My Soul" or the title track seem more moody and atmospheric, with Mang's voice in the former hitting a Geoff Tate-like escalation at its chorus that is arguably the catchiest single moment on the whole of the record. The guitars and keys are actually a little busier than the past, Seibel and Welsch incredibly fluid when playing in tandem, but for all the riffs and grooves there just aren't many that stand out on their own. Granted, that's never been a forte for the band. The guitarists have traditionally stuck with lower end chugs that support the airiness of the organs and synths and the dominant vocalist, but since Mang's vocals are not always so memorable here, I found my attention turning towards the remainder of the cast and not being rewarded for it.

As a result, much of the disc has become a blur for me, especially the latter half. Surely this is a competent, cohesive work which flows seamlessly between tracks, but I can't claim that it quite builds upon the momentum of the past, or evolves Ivanhoe's sound in a productive way. That said, it's certainly got the most beautiful cover art in the band's catalog, and considering that it showed up after an eight year gap, the Germans pull enough tricks out of their hat to make for a pleasant, if ultimately banal record. Stronger than Symbols of Time, but nothing extraordinary when paired up against the dominant progressive/power metal albums of the mid Oughts like Angra's Temple of Shadows or Pagan's Mind's Enigmatic Calling which cremate this before the funeral director even gives the signal. Fear not, though, because this same lineup would return in full force for the subsequent, and notably superior Lifeline.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10] (and your eyes won't see a thing)

http://www.ivanhoe-band.com/

Ivanhoe - Polarized (1997)

Despite a somewhat wimpy opening, Polarized is the best of the Andy B. Franck fronted Ivanhoe records, as well as the last he would participate in. Not to mention the last before the rather substantial studio hiatus taken by the Germans between 1997 and their fourth full-length in 2005. Here, just about everything the band had worked towards with Visions and Reality and its successor comes to fruition and they've penned some genuinely catchy songs. Hell, there are 3-4 tracks here that I'd consider among the best in their discography, so memorable are the chorus sequences and so accessible and gleaming their melodies. I'm not sure if the change in guitarists had much to do with the increase in quality; Achim Welsch plays with a comparable style to Chuck Schuler, but clearly this was Franck's magic moment before moving on to the better known Symphorce and Brainstorm.

As mentioned, Polarized starts off a bit slow with some forgettable acoustic guitars, but it soon develops into something more emotionally effecting as we hear just how Franck's range has bloomed into this glorious pastiche of Ray Alder, Geoff Tate and James LaBrie. Once "Souls of Fire" arrives, though, we're treated to this intense, textured and warm application of his tone against the escalating guitars; and this was already proving to be the best Ivanhoe track to date, with fantastic drumming, glittering clean guitars over the bridge and Franck all over the place with a schizoid array of screams and diabolic barks along with his more soothing lines. But this is not even the strongest track here: the bass driven, uplifting grooves and explosive chorus of "Hollow" are remarkable (with a counter vocal line reminiscent of Fates Warning's "Pale Fire") and the more thundering "Whipping the Flies" with a chorus so epic that I just want to enlist in the Franck house staff and serve the man grapes and dates while I fan him with palm leaves. In a totally servile and PLATONIC way, you gutter-minds. What can I say? I am a massive nerd for such dramatic, structured and memorable chorus sequences.

There's more beyond this triad to recommend, from the disco-like jitters that support the wacky lead in "Sunlight", the glorious "Glass on Skin" with its electro elements, or the atmospheric, muscular swagger of "Wasted Time", but in reality just about the whole album kicks ass with the exception of a chunk of opener "Lonelies" and the almost obligatory piano power ballad "When I'm Old" that caps off the disc; and even here, Franck shines. Come to think of it, I think this guy sounds better here than on most of the more aggressive Brainstorm records (my exposure to Symphorce has been more limited), but the whole band gets a chance to shine. Polarized does continue Ivanhoe's reluctance to indulge in the flashy jamming of Dream Theater, preferring instead to approach the music with a more pop-like structure, but I can hardly fault them for its accessibility and general lack of complexity when the results are this strong. Alongside the more recent Lifeline (2008), this album represents some of their strongest writing, and it's one of the first I'd recommend to those interested in checking out their catalog. The production is superb.

Verdict: Win [8/10] (the fire and the floooooooooood)

http://www.ivanhoe-band.com/

Ivanhoe - Symbols of Time (1995)

Sporting its surreal, abstract landscape, and a rather cliche title, the Ivanhoe sophomore Symbols of Time seems more or less like any other progressive metal record released through the 90s, a piece attempting to engage both the intellect and the imagination of its prospective audience with its visual and auditory imagery. Sadly, the music here also holds to the same comparison, and never quite stands out or rises above anything else in the Germans' catalog. That's not to say it's a bad album, for some obvious care was also placed in the compositions, but apart from a few choice moments, I find it the least distinct of their works. Surprising, since the lineup was precisely the same as the debut (a consistency that wouldn't pop up again until many years later in the band's canon).

Dubbing this Visions and Reality Mk. Deux would not be far from the truth, for outside of a few minor tweaks, it's got the same level of variation in the vocals and tempos. I would say that the guitar playing of Chuck Schuler has evolved into a bit more harried technicality, with him flexing a few funkier chops and more stringent, memorable leads, but the vocals of Andy B. Franck are rather similar to the first album, if slightly better matched to the ebb and flow of the music here. Where he strains himself in the higher range it's not unlike James LaBrie sounded (and still sounds today), but he experiences with everything from harsher barking to the more subtle strain we experienced in several tracks off the debut. I particularly enjoyed Giovanni Soulas' performance (the real heart of this band), a ponderous and constantly plunking anchor to the expansive array of sounds being painted across cuts like "Wide Open" or "Vibrations", but for some reason, despite the smooth transitions of the album and its considerable arsenal of melody, there were few moments that really stuck with me.

Compare Symbols of Time to something like Dream Theater's Awake, which was the prog metal record to beat during that 1994-95 period, and it comes up a little dry of ideas, playing its rhythmic array rather safely. We've got the softer, dramatic piano driven tune "By a Feeling" which never really did a lot for me, and I also found the very Dream Theater use of the organs alongside the heavier guitars in something like the bridge of "Through the Lies" to fall a little short in the groove department. It's obvious that the production here had come a few strides forward from Visions and Reality. More concise and balanced on every level, and there's much more of a feeling that at any moment, the band could conceivably start jamming out into no man's land. That they still manage to keep that restraint they exhibited on the debut is indeed admirable, and they've never been an overindulgent group of show offs with 15-20 minute long tracks, but one can't help but think what might happen if they let loose once in awhile.

Absolute die hards of this sound might find enough on Symbols of Time to warrant a pickup, but this one hasn't left much of an impression on me through the years, and newcomers might be better rewarded with either of their more recent albums featuring Mischa Mang on vocals.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

http://www.ivanhoe-band.com/

Ivanhoe - Visions and Reality (1994)

While the metal public is not hesitant to apply the tag 'progressive metal' to just about anything these days (I've heard it being used to brand sounds from Meshuggah to derivative black or death metal acts), and I'm hardly exempt from the practice myself, I feel that the term was once being used to describe a particular cache of artists who had morphed the traditional prog rock sounds of the 70s and 80s into a harder hitting contrast of ideals. Granted, there has always been a stigma of dweebiness hovering over this field, owing in no small part to the snottier minority of its fans and the subjective assertion of its 'superiority' to other sub-strains of metal, but I feel like a lot of the better groups in this niche have been tragically overlooked through the years, Germans Ivanhoe among them.

The early through mid 90s were not silent years for the genre, what with Dream Theater's sophomore Images and Words arriving to enormous, even mainstream acclaim, and a hundred impersonators deciding to follow suit. Not since Queensrÿche (1988-1990) had a band in this category made such a huge splash, not even Dream Theater themselves on their debut, so it's only natural that the fires of inspiration would spread so rampant. Ivanhoe were not necessarily also-rans in this category, having formed in the mid 80s and produced a handful of demos before signing to the obscure Wmms imprint for their debut, but I don't think there's any question they bear some subdued similarities to that East Coast US elephant in the room, tempered with a nod or two to Geoff Tate of Queensrÿche or the synth heavy 80s output of Canadian rock heroes Rush. As a result, Visions and Reality is not exactly an album I'd dub 'original', but their choice to rein in on the technical excess and focus on textured, dynamic songwriting ultimate leads to an enjoyable debut for those with an interest in this particular aesthetic.

The German quintet certainly has a flair for dramatic escalation here, from the beautifully lush intro piece "Visions..." through the grooving, heavier step of the guitars in "Deeper Ground", and this has worked to their strength for going on 20 years now. Certainly the vocals of Andy B. Franck in "Deeper Ground" seem redolent of Geoff Tate's screaming and his lower, ballad range circa "Silent Lucidity", but nonetheless I found myself invested in the mixture of pumping bass lines, jazz and world influenced percussion and the constant shimmering of the synth pads off in the distance. There's a little theatrical cheese to the composition, as with the dorky fusion of that 80s piano break in the bridge, but once Chuck Schuler's burning, minimalist lead arrives and they steer back towards another verse, they exude a sense of well rounded tautness, tangible if submerged intensity and genuine enthusiasm.

The album does grow a little in quality as it proceeds, through the intense middle gait of the track "Left Alone" in which Franck performs with a more palpable desperation, or the almost irritably catchy clean guitars that inaugurate "Into the Realm of Unknown", or the escalating heroism of Markus Britsch's keyboards in the chorus of "Written in Stone". However, I'd be remiss to claim that the music here was quite so distinct and memorable as Dream Theater's sophomore meal ticket or Fates Warning's fluid and thoughtful Parallels. For one, the guitars here are just not as powerful, the synths themselves often flimsy throughout the structure of the cuts, and Franck's vocals can prove a mixed bag, often unrestrained to the point that their siren like quality might have proven a better fit to some heavier power/speed metal album. A few of the more emotionally tepid tunes like the atmospheric "Eternal Light" leave something to be desired, and I found the album lacking in eloquent, catchy solos, despite admiring the restraint.

All in all, though, this was a decent first effort, possible worth checking out if you're into the less frenetic side of Dream Theater, or other German progressives of the 90s like Dreamscape and Mind Odyssey. The lyrics are a bit generic if not insubstantial, but the arrangements are more smooth than shaky; demonstrative of that deep understanding of grafting accessible endowments upon a more labyrinthine backbone which characterizes much of its sub-genre.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10] (eternal light whispers in his ears)

http://www.ivanhoe-band.com/