There are lots of metal bands in Hungary, the problem is that all of them have chosen their native language so it is very difficult (should I say impossible?) to break out of the local market and dive in the international scene. Last year we had Everwood with "Mind Games and what do you know? This year we have Age Of Nemesis with "Psychogeist. The link between these two bands? Both are classified as progressive metal acts and both artwork is created by Gyula Havancsak (Therion, Annihilator).

Age Of Nemesis formed back in 1997 as Nemesis. So far they have released four albums in their native language and one more album in English, "Eden? back in 2002. The band has shared the stage with many known international acts such as King's X, Uriah Heep, Queensryche...

"Psychogeist is partially a concept album. This means that the first six songs are part of a concept, a psycho-thriller story. Should I mention that Age Of Nemesis worship Dream Theater? Everything in here cries out Dream Theater (especially the keyboards), except the vocals that are closer to rock than metal. Still Zoltan Kiss handles the material in a cool way, most of the time, with his warm voice. It is rather obvious that Age Of Nemesis is a team of very skilful musicians. The album runs a bit more than an hour and I can say that I never felt the urge to press the "next button.

The production could have been better, especially the guitars needed a bit more sharp sound. However the band balances smoothly between "progressive and "metal. An extra bonus is the very good (but a bit too dark) video for the album's opener Fates Door.

In conclusion "Psychogeist is a good release by a band that can make it in the international market. Fans of prog metal should check them out.