Course Of Empire - Course of Empire (CD)

A Riviting Debut

By Yahoo! Shopping User  Feb 8, 2001

Course of Empire would look back at this album as an over-ambitious work. A young band trying too hard. However, to the listener, it is no less than epic. From the first moments of the spoken word/chant opening track "Ptah," it is easy to understa...nd why this is not a typical hard-edged rock album. Course of Empire are sonic artists, and the concept album is their medium. This eponymous debut concerns a society responsible for their own desctruction due to neglegence of their responsibilities as humans. Songs Like "Peace Child" and "Sins of the Father" Drive this concept home, while ear-splitting bombastic tracks such as "God's Jig" and "Coming of the Century" define the band's in-your-face approach to ambiguous music-storytelling. After the all-out-attack on the senses, we are left with a lilting pean to the last remains of the natural world, "Dawn of the Great Eastern Sun," which is delivered on a solo guitar like a breath of fresh air on a breezy spring morning. This album is enhanced by atmospheric sounds laid under the music in each track; subliminal, yet a part of the music. The Carpe Diem release and the Zoo Records release differ somewhat in transitions and mixes. Read more Less