THOUGHTS FACTORY – Elements

The German quintet known as Thoughts Factory released this impressive offering of theirs a few months ago via Melodic Revolution Records, and I must say that I am pleasantly surprised by the combined talents of the group and, more importantly, the atmospheric and tremendously diverse compositions that these skilled dudes have pieced together. So, what we are we talking about here? Well, progressive and hard-hitting metal with an epic edge to it seems to be the most apt way of summing up and describing what lies in store for you here.
 

What immediately stands out upon listening to its ten compositions is that “Elements” is a pretty damn powerful and bombastic opus. In addition, it is cleverly written and contains loads of cool surprises and unexpected turns, which is always a huge plus. The record is quite challenging and yet instantly appealing too, which probably has to do with the many kick-ass riffs and glorious melodies present on the disc and the fact that the guitar-work sounds so inspired. In general, the vocals are good, but they do miss the mark here and there, and on top of that, some sections and passages cry out for more emotional charge and intensity with respect to the vocals where the latter do not match the heartfelt level that the music does. Another minor gripe of mine is that some of the arrangements leave a little to be desired in the sense that certain parts do not exactly flow together seamlessly or fluidly, but again, this is a minor issue in the overall perspective and we are talking about a handful of examples, so I am not going to be a dick about that. Like I said before, the record is well -written and it is a great and worthwhile listen nearly all the way through, but some pieces soar more than others.      

“Elements” does not necessarily break any new (prog) ground as such, but it beautifully combines some of the best and most interesting aspects of outfits such as Dream Theater, Fates Warning, Devin Townsend, Queensryche, and to a lesser extent Yes. Very cool!
 

Standout tracks: “Dawn Pt. 1” and “Fire Away”.
https://thoughtsfactorymrrartist.bandcamp.com/album/elements