Order Of Nine – Seventh Year Of The Broken Mirror (2012)

It’s always a pleasure to introduce another Pennsylvania band to the larger international audience. Here’s Pittsburgh’s Order of Nine with their fifth albumSeventh Year of the Broken Mirror on Nightmare Records.

I had to laugh when I read the one-sheet which calls OoN’s style thrash metal. There may be some moments of that, but SYOTBM falls largely into the melodic progressive power metal category. Yet Order of Nine’s style is seems dark, at times even foreboding. And sometimes they remind me of brooding darker Queensryche, especially with Michael DeGrena’s. Sometimes he sounds like Geoff Tate, only in a lower register. His voice has, at times, an inherent sadness, a melancholy to it. Unfortunately, sometimes it seemed too familiar, lacking variation.

Otherwise, Seventh Year of the Broken Mirror is fine stuff. After DeGrena’s distinctive vocal style, you can add the terrific classic metal guitar work from Steve Pollick. Real polished and exciting stuff. The best pieces here to display Order of Nine’s talent and distinctive style are the two longer pieces, Spiral Staircase and Eye of the Enemy. Both are devastatingly delightful, and even add some lightness and liveliness to that aforementioned inherent brooding atmosphere.

It may take a spin or two to plumb the deeps of Order of Nine’s Seventh Year of the Broken Mirror, if only for it’s deep, darker, and emotive character, but you will be rewarded with some fine progressive metal.

1. Seventh Year of the Broken Mirror (4:44)
2. Words that were Said (4:35)
3. Dreamspeak (5:24)
4. Spiral Staircase (7:04)
5. Changing of the Guard (6:17)
6. Innocence (5:43)
7. Third Wish (6:04)
8. Eye of the Enemy (8:25)
9. Twelfth Talisman (5:41)
10. Reign Down (3:57)
11. Winter’s Call (2:47)

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