LAST WARNING hail from Italy; they are no rookies in the Progressive Metal world. Formed in 1987, they recorded their first demo effort, Bloody Dream, in 1992, having previously cut their teeth live in support of bands like URIAH HEEP, CARCASS and EXTREMA. Rave reviews following the 800 copies of that demo sold resulted in the participation of the Faith And Misery track to an Underground Symphony Metal compilation.
Searching for a label deal, LAST WARNING proceeded to the recording of a second demo to be sent to company recipients. W.M.M.S. was decided to release the band's first proper album, From The Floor Of The Well, continuing to 'upgrade' the Italian band's name worldwide. 2000's Under A Spell album marked a new deal with the already known Underground Symphony label plus an enhanced sound created by LAST WARNING, now experimenting also with the mix of 'classic' Metal and soprano vocals in a couple of tunes. Six/seven years later, the band is offering their newest creation, not forgetting to mention they do have a new singer Fabio Del Sal and a new drummer Ivan Moni Bidin. A new label again, My Kingdom Music, now serves as the administrator of this new Throughout Time CD and I really think they have hit gold in LAST WARNING.
Have not listened to any other album from these fine Prog metallers but- in any case - Throughout Time bears an undoubted quality in the whole of its making. First of all, the band does not exaggerate in pouring endless dozes of complexity in their songwriting and no-limit instrumentation skills. Progression is lurking in their minds mostly - whoever is in charge of the music built, anyway - while they focus more on the output vibe and final coherence of the tracklist. Of course, there are tons of tempo changes, riffs exchange and in-between fills but they have surely worked hard in assembling a whole idea in the album featuring diversity for the goal of lucidity. And the album - crucial factor, in my humble opinion - ends up to be (most of all) a Metal album - and not a 'Prog' one with 'Metal' parts.
The new singer, Fabio Del Sal, surely is a good choice for LAST WARNING. His voice is distinct, he can scream where needed, his throat is crystal clear in more emotional parts and he no-fear provides credentials of his nationality. He is fronting some fine played music, with heavy guitars that could have sound a little bit more 'heavy', but - on the other hand - this may had resulted in some more unbalanced feeling. The leads/solos are remarkable and they interact nicely with some well-adapted keyboards performance that take over the guiding part where needed. The songs are of expected duration for the likes of this sub-genre, but in no way will you find yourself exhausted or fed up in all these 68 minutes of...
...excellent Prog Metal, with tons of melodies evoking multiple feelings, that can described as a mix of down-to-earth DREAM THEATER, majestic QUEENSRYCHE, moody SHADOW GALLERY with (of course) giving credit to the godfathers: RUSH. Throughout Time is an album you should surely check out if a Prog Metal (both keywords of equal significance) aficionado. LAST WARNING has the potential to climb up to the Major League of this storm-tossed Metal field.
P.S.: In The Flood features some first-class guest female vocals, resulting in a stormy heart-warmin' moody song. Great...