From the opening notes of "Page One" it is obvious that New York's October Thorns have listened to a bit of Dream Theater in their day. Complex guitar riffs, nimble keyboard lines and textures, melodic vocals, and a tight
rhythm section make up this bands sound. There is plenty of musical muscle featured throughout this EP, as the band shows off some tight and intense instrumentation.
"Circle Game" has a real tasty guitar lick and neat syncopated drum fills, all in typical prog-metal fashion. Track number three "Soul Forge" really had some nice variety to it, ranging from intense unison playing to raging speed metal. The singer here runs the
gamut from James LaBrie shrieks to almost molten death metal rages. An ode to Dream Theater can again be heard on "No Idle Phrase" featuring some lightning shredding from both the guitar and keyboard player. The band serves up some chunky riffs and majestic keyboards on "Jihad", but the song is pretty short and leaves you hanging. The final song "Exhausted Mind"
suffers from uneven vocals that try to be too forceful and drowns out the rest of the band.
Once this group gets some time under their belt and put out a full length CD they will probably gain some recognition in the prog-metal community. They certainly have some of the tools.
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