One of the most anticipated returns is finally in my hands. I thank the Lord for the pleasure He's offered me the last couple of days since The Art... has monopolized the attention of my MP3 player. I thank Him for keeping these musicians sane, on a straight road. I can't really believe what my reaction would have been if this was a modern Metal release or a hilariously grotesque imitation of their past.
The story of Sieges Even goes like this. In the mid 80's Markus, Alex and Oliver (Oliver joined a bit later on) started a Progressive Metal band. The lineup was completed with the addition of vocalist Franz Herde. In 1986 the band entered the studio and recorded a 4-track Demo called Repression And Resistance. This was their ticket to a contract deal with SPV. Their debut in 1988 called Life Cycles is considered till today to be their heaviest piece of work. Their second album in 1990, called Steps, was recorded with the help of Charlie Bauerfeind. Their impressive turn to more complicated material was more than obvious. After all the album starts with the impressive 25 minutes long Tangerine Windows Of Solace (I rest my case).  
Time flies and in 1991 the band entered the studio once again to record A Sense Of Change. A quite visionary title since during their recording process the band parted ways with Franz Herde. His replacement was Jogi Kaiser, a much closer to jazz singer, a stunning vocalist to be more precise! However this wasn't the only change that took place in the band. Markus Steffen departed...
Two more albums followed, Sophisticated in 1995 and Uneven in 1997. Both of them were simply wonderful. Both of them with various musicians coming and going. Somewhere at that point the band stopped its activities. Officially Sieges Even never disbanded, its members followed several projects and became members of known acts.
It took eight years but it was worthy of the anticipation. Everything you ever loved in Sieges Even is here and much more. It's technical, atmospheric, jazzy (yeah!), more down to earth than its predecessors. Let's stick to this last observation. Truth is that Sieges Even always gave extra weight to melody and never tried to flash our eyes with fancy compositional stunts. Their new vocalist carries a deep mellow voice that (sounds impossible but it's the truth) manages with ease to face the rest of the team on an equal level.
Face it people: this is a heavenly gift. Denying it just because you don't listen this kind of metal is foolish. People must listen to whatever they like, but give a chance to genres you are not familiar with. Make no mistakes: The Art... is as closer you can get to listening to brainstorming music. In a vast sea of mediocre releases in Progressive Metal, this one is a beacon of light.