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It’s high time that this amazing album finally gets reviewed
here on our site. Southern Cross is a band out of Canada that had released a
couple albums, but they really haven’t received much attention until 2012’s
release “From Tragedy”. Honestly, I’ve heard their first album, “Rise Against”,
and I was slightly unimpressed. It seems that the band has re-thought their
approach, and it has paid off for them. The reason I say it is “high time” for
this album to be reviewed is because it received a re-release from Unicorn
Records in April 2013. Hopefully, this time around, the band will receive even
more attention. I sound quite enthusiastic about this album, but I promise
that I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that this album was a toss-up for best
album of 2012 for me. Only one album defeated it (Distorted Harmony’s “Utopia”),
but I must admit that the top 5 were basically all a toss-up seeing as how 2012
was such a great year for progressive music. So, this album almost topped my
list last year, but why? I’ve heard it said about Southern Cross that they are a Dream
Theater clone that overcomes this status by playing and composing extremely
well. I disagree with the first part of this statement: While I’m sure Dream
Theater is an influence, they sound absolutely nothing like Dream Theater in
style, composition, structure, or ambiance. I wasn’t going to do this, but I
must: I’m really tired of the Dream Theater nuts comparing everyone to their
mediocre gods. I’ve heard so many bands written off a clones of Dream Theater,
when these bands have little in common with them---in fact, these bands often
possess more of the spirit and soul of prog than Dream Theater itself! In my
opinion, DT has been stuck in a massive rut for 15 years, and these newer bands
show no signs of joining them there. So, as I’ve heard, if you think a new prog
metal song sounds like Dream Theater, your music collection is probably way too
small (If you don’t like what I said, try asking me about Rush!). *Rant
finished*. Southern Cross is anything but a clone of the “great” DT. In
their first two albums, they managed to create a more metal approach that
incorporated harsh vox and a lot of bombast. “From Tragedy”, however, displays
the band’s new-found maturity. Melody is 100% at the forefront here. Indeed, the
band almost throws off the prog metal mantle for the most part, although they
really bring it at times. The melodies are extremely memorable, and the lyrics
are as well. Weighing them against the sea of amazing 2012 releases, I couldn’t
help but notice how profound and emotive the vocals and lyrics appear. This
album portrays the life of a really messed up guy and how lost and “missing” he
is. At the end of the album, we find out why, and it is rather heart-breaking.
The songs are sung with punishingly emotive style, and the lyrics themselves are
never cheesy and never cookie cutter. All along, the melody shines. Now, then, the album
sounds pretty good thus far, correct? Well, there’s more. This album hands-down
delivers the best
instrumental portions of any
album in 2012. This was my first impression; and, after listening to it dozens
of times, it is still my belief. Southern Cross pulled out all the stops and
created masterful, melodic passages that really suck you in deeply. This can
especially be seen on my two favorite tracks, “Between the Lines” and “Poetry”:
These two tracks both made it into my Top 10 list of best songs for 2012. There
are 3 instrumental passages in “Between the Lines” alone that require the
attention of every prog lover. Piano, keys, flute, awesome orchestration,
masterful drumming, and wonderful bass lines combine to form a perfect storm of
truly progressive music, the like of which is rare to find. Notice, however,
that I didn’t mention guitars: That is because they deserve special mention. The
guitars on this album are the
best
that 2012 had to offer. Read that again. The guitars on Southern Cross’ “From
Tragedy” are the best I heard in 2012. That is really saying something, and the
flexible, mature sound earns this praise. The passages are well thought-out and
well-played. The lead guitarist busts out solo after solo that would make even
Gilmour jealous. So, when you combine a heart-breaking
storyline, amazing lyrics and vox, and the best instrumental passages of the
year, what do you get? You get an instant masterpiece that should be heard by
all fans of prog metal. Spotify has it. Amazon.com has it. Youtube has it. The
band is re-releasing it. There’s no excuse. Give it a listen soon. I hope you
will share my opinion of it. | ||||||||||||||||||
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