Let's see I gave the last Sieges Even album 'The Art of Navigating by the Stars' the highest score ever, and it totally blew me away. And I can thankfully say that their new album lives up to all of my expectations and the material presented here is top of the line.

Vocalist Arno Mendes is a full integrated part of the sound now, and his strong signature on the songs and sound means that this album is more melodic and softer than all of their earlier masterpieces like 'A Sense of Change', 'Sophisticated' and 'Steps', as well as 'The Art of...'.

Sieges Even is still a full-blown progressive metal attack on the senses; ten technically perfectly crafted songs, played with so much control and conviction that I am at loss for words. The sound is brilliant, perfectly balanced and full. The musicians are in a league of their own; the Holzwarth brothers form one the best rhythm sections in metal, Marcus Steffen is one of the most underrated guitarist around, and 'new' vocalist Arno Mendes, who joined the band just before the recording of 'The Art of...', is the missing piece in their sound and sings brilliant on the album.

'Paramount' never quite reach the same high level that 'The Art of...' did, and the softer approach to things might need some time to sink in, but give it time because this album is without a doubt one the best progressive metal albums of 2007. This is music for feinschmecker's; who has wants their music to be complex, melodic and challenging.

To me one the most important releases this year, it goes without saying that it is essential for progressive metal fans and it fully lives up to everything I'd hoped for and then some...