ABOVE SYMMETRY, once known as ASPERA, is a Progressive Metal band from Skien, Norway. This young quintet (all band members are in their early twenties) had put out an excellent debut album that is full of interesting arrangements, melodies, and just Progressive Metal at it best! This album has everything a Progressive Metal fan needs. There are long, yet interesting songs, Unorthodox arrangements, great guitar and keys solos and of course, excellent vocals.

The intro is a great buildup for what is next to come and that is a journey through a world of polyrhythmics, odd time signatures and excellent material. "Ripples", second after the intro and also the album's title, turned out as a very good full length opener. Right from the start we can hear the great guitar skills of Ognedal, the awesome keyboard sections of Henriksen, the excellent rhythm section of Ekelund & Blomquist and the strong powerful vocals of Petersen.

While listening to the songs I had one thing in mind and that's how this band took their Progressive influences and made an excellent mix of it with a  little bit of modern Metal every now and then. It has to be said, these guys can really play!

"Between Black & White"is one of my favorites. This one is a SYMPHONY X style tune, with great tempo changes, great vocals that reminded me a lot of the early Russell Allen of SYMPHONY X on "The Odyssey" album. Actually this song could have easily been in the second part of "The Odyssey", which is still non-existent. After what I just wrote you might think that this band just took what the great ones had one done, but the thing is that even though there is a resemblance, ABOVE SYMMETRY had succeeded on creating their own sound even though they remind the DREAM THEATER and SYMPHONY X. However, the combination plus the uniqueness of the band made something new and fresh.

Production wise, the overall was done well. The album sounds amazing and even though the music is complex you can easily comprehend every note. The songs are very fluent and even there are some catchy choruses here and there.

In conclusion, if you like Progressive Metal and challenging music you will definitely like this band. For the ages of the band members, and this being their first album, they can be very happy with the result.  I definitely do! I even hope that the new releases of SYMPHONY X and DREAM THEATER will be as good as this one. This creation is a proof that new blood and structured ideas can be refreshing.