Sieges Even - Uneven (1997)

Sorpresivamente (para mí) aún estamos en el aire, y vamos a festiejar con toda potencia, en un disco fuera de serie, y muy difícil de conseguir por ser una maravilla muy poco conocida. Un día la espectacular y menospreciada banda Sieges Even se unió al increíble guitarrista Wolfgang Zenk (quien luego formaría el tremendo 7 for 4, que ya hemos presentado en el blog) y sacaron éste disco que en el 97 se irguió como uno de los iconos del metal progresivo, alcanzando un nivel que pocos han podido llegar, y menos superar.

Artista: Sieges Even

Álbum: Uneven
Año: 1997
Género: Metal progresivo
Duración: 44:16
Nacionalidad: Alemania

Lista de Temas:
1. Disrespectfully yours
2. What if?
3. Trainsong
4. Rise and shine
5. Scratches in the rind
6. Different pace
7. What's up god?
8. Love is as warm as tears

Alineación:
- Greg Keller / vocals
- Bork Keller / keyboards
- Wolfgang Zenk / guitar
- Oliver Holzwarth / bass
- Alexander Holzwarth / drums
Musician:
Oliver Hahn / keyboards

Las buenas joyitas musicales perdidas no son patrimonio exclusivo del suelo latinamoericano, pueden comprobarlo con varios de los discos de estos alemanes fuera de serie. Si tus oídos soportan un poquito más de potencia adicional, te vas a hacer un festión musical con éste disco.
Pero no voy a detenerme en mucha reseña, el disco es espectacular, la banda es de culto, no son generalmente conocidos pero muchos de quieres los descubrieron quedaron maravillados, aquí tienen un discazo para empezar la semana, y tengo muchos discos para traerles, que tengo pendientes...

Quinto álbum de estudio de este peculiar proyecto alemán que responde al nombre SIEGES EVEN, y segundo intento de los hermanos HOLZWARTH por mantener con vida al grupo antes de que éste se disolviera temporalmente para retornar en 2005 con el magnífico CD "The Art of Navigating by the Stars".
Estilísticamente, "Uneven" se sitúa –junto con "Sophisticated"–, justo en medio de las influencias RUSH manifestadas en sus primeros tres álbumes y la fineza llena de carácter demostrada en los dos CD's que preceden a éste. Con formato de quinteto, Greg KELLER (vocales), Wolfgang ZENK (guitarra), Oliver HOLZWARTH (bajo), Alex HOLZWARTH (batería) y Börk KELLER (teclados) se debaten entre temas de sabor metálico y sofisticaciones rítmicas impares, a veces decoradas con elementos jazz y otras veces simplemente intrincadas y complejas, progresivas y vanguardistas. Tal es el caso de temas como 'What if?', 'Rise and shine', 'Scratches in the rind' y 'What's up God?', aunque los demás tampoco adolecen de complejidades progresivas, incluso desde la representación de una propuesta, digamos agresiva. Lo más suave llega con 'Love is as warm as tears', tema que presenta los teclados adicionales de Oliver HAHN y cambios rítmicos interesantes.
Aunque no distantes entre sí, las tres etapas por las que SIEGES EVEN ha cruzado diferencian su estilismo con aproximaciones o metálicas o vanguardistas o elegantes, siempre procurando mantener los más altos niveles de calidad, y demostrando su capacidad para desenvolverse con soltura en la interpretación de música compuesta en métricas desiguales. Uno de esos grupos que merecen especial atención, contemporáneo como el qué más y regocijo para oídos exigentes.

Alfredo Tapia-Carreto

Vamos con algunos comentarios en inglés, algún video para que escuchen a éstos monstruos, y no le demos mucha vuelta, sólo disfruten.

Being aware that it might sound biased since SIEGES EVEN is coming from my home town I've to call them though one of the best German bands and every lover of Progmetal who listen to them will agree to this. This one is certainly their most hard-edged one (not considering their very first Thrash-Metal album) and almost on par with its predecessor maybe altogether a bit less accessible. Apart from the addition of brother of singer Greg Keller as keyboardist the line-up on here stayed the same as on "Sophisticated" which is a rare case in their band history. Guitar player Wolfgang Zenk and rhythm section consisting of Holzwarth brothers are doing a great job once again and with Greg Keller they found the best vocalist they've had ever before anyway. There's lots of excellent melodic but highly intricate prog metal on here and I dare saying it's supposed to be considered higher in quality than ANY album by DREAM THEATER and at least as good as the best ones by FATES WARNING. Everytime I'm listening to these guys I'm again blown away by the enormous virtuosity they show on their instruments without losing themselves in endless narcistic solo excesses at any time.
Highlights: "What if?", "Trainsong", "Love is as warm as tears"
Everyone liking the mentioned bands shouldn't miss this one! Absolutely a Must-Have in Progmetal genre!! 4,5/5 stars really!

Dieter Fischer

Ladies and Gentlemen, remarkable effort from one of the most underrated and forgotten (I always have thought it) progressive rock/metal bands ever, a lifetime together that over almost one year ago (sadly). A band that never saw the total glory of their musical harvest, a really shame for those who appreciate the value of making music not only with practice and talent but also with a great dose of sense and coherence.
We're not going to discuss the possible reasons that took them to split up, the real matter here is to try to describe some aspects from this stunning work by parts. "Uneven" gave us maybe one of the heaviest moments of Sieges Even's career mixing quality and power in generous quantities at the same time. One of the individual characteristics from these guys to admire is the formidable union between Holzwarth brothers (Oliver on bass and Alex on drums) on the musical field, they are absolutely catchy and technique, an experience to the hearings, just listen them carefully!.
Uneven is composed by 8 very compact songs that offer to us a huge scale of rhythms and contra tempos one behind other. Jazz could be one of their sources of inspiration more notorious along the record, for example on songs like: "rise and shine" or "scratches in the rind". Obviously metal as genre is also present through this album with "disrespectfully yours" and "different pace", which are clear allusions about it.
To be the most popular is not always synonym of being the best (and opposite) and that is a rule applied in this case, however Sieges Even will stay among many of us as a sonic jewel that passed by briefly but showing all their skills to elaborate music of high standards and totally enjoyable. Records like "A Change of Sense" (a masterpiece of progressive rock/metal) and their last albums (specially "The Art of Navigating by the Stars") also will be records that many future progressive rock and metal bands will keep in mind as a start point to discover their creative restlessness and their own horizon on music.
An album and a band for all the fans who likes the early years and more progressive works focusing on strong melodies of acts as Dream Theater or Fates Warning as well. They will be a classic, doubtless!.

Carlos Herrera

There are songs on this album that simply belong to the best in fast played prog metal. The songwriting is much refined when compared to the predecessor. The blending of speed and grace is truly amazing. Only TRAINS feels like misfit from Sophisticated. I simply can't get enough of what Alex Holzwarth is doing on drums (all musicians on this album are very good but he is outstanding). As always with SE it might take some time to be able to fully cherish what they did, but once you achieved this - you'll never forget this record. *****= What if, Rise and Shine, Scratches in the Rind, Different Pace, What's up God? ****= Disrespectfully Yours, Love is as warm as Tears ***= Trainsong.
36 stars, 8 tracks = 4,5/5 stars.

Thomas Janssen

Y en un ratito les traigo otra genialidad de éstos alemanes. Y si nos tiran el blog abajo, recuérdennos, quieránnos y escuchen estas maravillas de vez en cuando.