Unwritten Pages is progressive metal outfit based in the southern parts of the Netherlands. Whether this is a band or a project is a bit murky, but all seems to revolving around the compositional skills of one Frederic Epe. “Fringe Kitchen” is the name of their second album, so let’s take a look what it has to offer.
These Dutch gents seem to follow the Steven Wilson/Porcupine Tree school of progressive metal with a bit of Psychotic Waltz and Dead Soul Tribe thrown in for good measure. The emphasis is clearly on adventurous compositions and creating a certain atmosphere. Some hints of Devin Townsend’s “Terria” are certainly there. Tracks like “Asylum Tragedy”, “Perfect Incentive”, “Cloud Infinite” and “Terminal Defect” are multi-layered and engaging and they’re fine manifestations of Frederic Epe’s considerable composing skills. All the musicians involved know how to hold their instruments, but their collective technical prowess never becomes pointless or self indulged, thus preventing “Fringe Kitchen” from becoming a boring and utterly pointless Dream Theater-styled prog bonanza.
Having said that, there’s certainly room for improvement, especially in the vocal and production departments. Lothar Epe is a talented vocalist and he’s competently supported by Frederic and Michel Epe, but that doesn’t mean he’s the next Russell Allen or Damian Wilson. My biggest gripe with “Fringe Kitchen” is the unbalanced and often shaky production. The emphasis in the mix is on the guitars and vocals, but they often smother the drum and bass parts. This is quite a shame, because the creative drumming by John Macaluso (Ark/TNT) is one of the distinguishing features of this album.
“Fringe Kitchen” is quite an enjoyable prog album with some excellent compositions, but sadly this release is partly spoiled by the rather low production values. There’s also room for improvement in the vocal department. If Unwritten Pages manages to overcome these obstacles I’m sure they have the potential to become of one the finest outfits within the Dutch progressive rock and metal scene.
Ray, compared to some of your other reviews, I have to admit this one is a bit of a letdown in terms of research.
For starters, Fred is actually the lead singer and it would surprise me if he tries to be anything like lets say a Russel Allen. The music is just so different, Fred is a very different singer. I didn’t like their debut at all (was just too much for me tbh) but I am enjoying the hell out of this one (and it keeps growing on me still), there is just so much energy and the lyrics are definitely far above average. But that is of course that is just my personal opinion.
While we’re at it: I thought the album production was rather awesome for the most part, although I agree the bass could have been more present at times. Regardless of opinion though, how can you say the drums aren’t present enough in the mix? I wonder what setup you were using, I honestly thought the drums were a tad too loud in some of the songs.
BTW, I realize that a lot of what I just wrote is purely based on how I feel feel about the album, so nothing wrong with your opinion (hell, that is what reviews are for!). Other than lacking a bit of research, the review wasn’t even bad bro 🙂