The passage of time has its own impacts, sometimes powerful ones. Surely that a measure of change isn't merely connected to the time spectrum but also to a difference of thought and awareness, however, time is also garnering experience and maturity, thus progress and development in most cases. Back in the beginning, and actually quite recently, the Spanish Metal band ATSPHEAR, indulged of the past Gothenburg Melodic Death Metal, yet altering it just a tad to add their own toehold on it. Nonetheless, it felt like that modern type version of the ruthless kind of Metal music. With the introduction of the band's new album, "Redshift", original via Zero Records and now newly released by Art Gates Records, ATSPHEAR appears to be going through the same kind of process that has been going on within the OPETH fame. However, unlike the Swedish ex-Melodic Death progressive enthusiastics, ATSPHEAR might have established their music on this album basing on a Progressive Rock and Hard Rock / Post Grunge foundations but also preserved their Metal stability along with its extremity. Without being a true fan of Rock in progression, needless to declare my disappointment of OPETH over the years, ATSPHEAR made it possible for me to become spellbound and appreciate their artistic form of their end result, mixing early and late IN FLAMES and SOILWORK with the likes of BLUE OYSTER CULT, PINK FLOYD, RUSH, late OPETH, SOUNDGARDEN and ALICE IN CHAINS among others.

Time after time of listening to this piece it mesmerized me how it shifted from end to end. Teething with a foreboding tune like "Redshift" that shares some of the band's earlier brutal characteristics, though unleashing several melodic Hard Rock arrows that can serve as a prediction of what is about to happen next on the album, ATSPHEAR attested their advancement throughout the tracklist with ounces of melodies, inspiring arrangements that showed tremendous talents of songwriting, instrumental nimbleness and dexterity of the players while keeping the songs' vibes fresh and extremely consuming. Honing the band's assorted edge, ATSPHEAR applied mixture of riffery guidelines spreading from vintage Rock to Groove Metal, surpassed melodic opuses that casted a magical shadow of tuneful coherences, combined with textured harmonious chants out of a promising varied vocalist that his efforts appeared better and better as the album progressed, a bit cold hearted like at times, but no doubt a singer that one day will see greatness. Converging on such an impeccable musical heterogeneity, applied through songs such the ultra-melodic "Centuries" and "The Builder of the Stage" standing firm with the crafty lengthy epic of "Empire" that savored dreamy atmospheric notations of incredible guitaring and song structuring, the flow wrapped up with possibly one of the most impressive Progressive salutations to mixture of Rock and Metal, the epic despondent hymn of "My Grave", which remained tattooed on yours truly's skin, probably for life.

Such an attention to every bit of a detail for resulting this kind of musical piece isn't that common at all, one has to appreciate ATSPHEAR's out of the box thought pattern, playing with fire but with a strong desire to make better for themselves. Nothing is perfect to say the least, yet one would be a fool to let this release go unattended, I am positive that even extreme Metal fans would want to sink their prongs on "Redshift" as it is a must, and not just because of its complex nature.