TIME MACHINE - Evil

11 songs
49:43 minutes
***** *
Limb Music

Bandpage

Not even a year ago I reviewed the last album by Italian melodic power proggers Time Machine, so I knew that Evil could not possibly be already a follow up. Instead where Reviviscence was the second part of a planned trilogy, released on Massacre Records, Limb Music decided to re-release the first part Evil which was originally published in 2001 by the Italian independent label Lucretia. Of course that original version is very hard to come by these days, which is why a new release makes sense in this case.

Time Machine are in fact more a project than a band, with more or less a new singer for every new album, and also new musicians, now that I come to think of it. Each album seems to be released on a different label, which makes it really nearly impossible to find all their CDs. Now I am not that much a fan of melodic metal, but compared to other more popular bands, you wonder why Time Machine can't stay with one label.

Anyway, Evil is a melodic metal album with lightly prog influences, and a concept adding a dark layer, making this album different from likewise products. After a short intro, you get already three songs with catchy hooks, never actually innovating the genre, but with a sure feeling for good song writing. If you dismiss the instrumentals, intros and an uninteresting remix of one of their regular songs, you are left with only six regular songs, still averaging six minutes, but all in all a little on the light side for a contemporary metal album. My personal highlight is the long Evil Lies, an epic duet with a charismatic female singer.

If you liked Time Machine's latest album, then you really have to get this re-release, if only to hear the first part of the story. Apart from that, fans of the softer moments of Dream Theater and Fates Warning will certainly like this album too.