September Code
III

Album three from Greek band September Code is what we are dealing with here, it is an album with a progressive look having pi on the cover and everything. III is released ten years after the debut that wasn’t named I, and I have been listening to it. I have also been scanning some reviews around the interweb and I think it would be fair to say that several reviewers around the net have seen this album as pretty average. Some of them has used Pain of Salvation as a reference, that is a band of high quality musicians usually making mediocre albums – but what about these guys?

Their music is quite similar to what Pain of Salvation usually does, it is fairly low tempo and pretty soft melodic rock music, progressive rock music is a good definition and it is of the most common style. It is also a long album with playing time of 61 minutes and less variation than many progressive albums tend to have, but the production and the soundscapes this band paints are excellent and that is a real positive note for them. The singer isn’t up to par with the rest of the band though, I think he often sound sort of strained like he is outside his comfort zone.

The quality production is excellent but the album feels slightly above average, as it has no focal points, nothing that draws me in as a listener. With a different vocal approach and some songs with more energy I think this could have been a great album, this feels like an opportunity missed and more like background music than something one actually sits down and listens to. But as background music it works really well, the soundscapes are fascinating and the tempo is just right for not disturbing whatever it is I am doing at the moment, like right now I am writing this review while listening to a song from the album.

Overall I think this album is good, it could have been better and while the first track is the best I don’t think any of the tracks really stand out and in the end it is kind of like something from Pain of Salvation – you get something good but it also feels like they could have done a lot better. Therefore the ending conclusion will have to be that if you like Pain of Salvation, this is probably worth checking out.

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