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Parallel Dimension Angular Perceptions Review by Greg Olma Life has a strange way of aligning the stars for events to happen. Take for instance, I would not have even heard of Parallel Dimensions if it were not for the fact that Evergrey skipped Houston on their last tour. As fate (or the stars) would have it, I decided to drive to Dallas to catch the Evergrey show. At that show, I met one of the guys from the band, and he offered me a copy of his new CD. Since I write for this publication, I do get discs a lot, but not all of them work into my rotation of music. Angular Perceptions is one of the few albums that not only had me playing the disc almost on a daily basis, but it will definitely make it into my top ten releases of 2019. I hate to always compare bands, but, in my opinion, these guys musically have a lot of Dream Theater influences. There is a heavy keyboard presence, but it doesn’t overpower the music, and the riffs come through loud and clear. The vocals are really good without going to that high falsetto range, which gives it more of a unique sound. Now that Parallel Dimensions is on my radar, I will definitely look forward to any new releases or live shows. This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) in Music Street Journal: 2019 Volume 6. More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2019.

Track by Track Review

Into The Mind’s Womb (Overture) This is just an intro that sounds like a movie score that has a very epic feel. It would make a nice intro to their concert.

Hall Of Mirrors The album really starts on this Dream Theater inspired prog piece. It has some great riffing from Rafael Quintana, but the keyboards are prominent in many areas of the track. Even though this song is almost eight-and-a-half minutes, it goes by quickly because of the many different “parts” that keep it interesting throughout.

What Lies Beyond I really like the groove of this shorter tune. It moves along at a good pace and really highlights their songwriting talent. It has melody, heavy riffing and just a touch of prog to make this a highlight on the disc.

Orogeny Things start off a bit slower and mellower but half way through, this cut turns into a really great prog metal piece. Quintana really shines here with some very melodic lead work.

Hollow Hourglass (A Beautiful Life) For fans of prog metal, this is where it all culminates into a glorious tune that has many twists and turns, but somehow still holds together as one song. During this 12-minute track, the band take us on a journey with heavy parts, power metal sections and mellow interludes that keep the listener captivated from start to finish.

Horizons This is one of the more straight forward tunes on offer here. Aside from the middle eastern sounding guitar solo, the song doesn’t venture into many different parts. The vocal performance by Edgar Lopez really stands out on this cut.

Vanishing Illusion The beginning is a bit deceiving as it has an almost mellow intro before it jumps into an epic prog piece. That mellowness is revisited again for a brief moment, but then it is full on prog with keyboardist Jerry Baez really standing out and displaying his talent.

Delicate Violence Leaving the longest song for last, this cut is another prog tour de force that adds female vocals into the mix. Sometimes it is a risk to leave such a long piece to the end because you want to leave them wanting more, but there are so many different sections to this tune that you will want to play this disc again right away.

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