Heaven's Cry- Wheels of Impermanence

Prosthetic Records
2012

It's rather unusual to find a band that released a demo (in this case "Sampler") a year before forming. But, that seems to be the case from everything I have read about this French-Canadian progression rock act. "Sampler" was released in 1993 while this Montreal, Quebec outfit is said to have officially formed in 1994. Whatever the case since forming the band has had a rather sporadic history when it comes to studio albums. "Food For Thought Substitute", the band's debut full-length album, was released in 1996 and, from most accounts, was fairly well-received by fans and critics alike. The band's follow-up release, "Primal Power Addiction", was released in 2002. It took 10 years, but now we finally get to the band's 3rd release, "Wheels of Impermanence", and , from what I can tell from a bit of research (in other words I did some random Google searches for descriptions of previous albums) , it's more of the same for Heaven's Cry. At least if progressive, melodic rock/metal is still the game being played? You know it probably does not say much when possibly the biggest claim to fame for the group is not their own music. That would almost make too much sense. Rather, quite possibly the biggest claim to fame for the band seems to be the fact that Heaven’s Cry member Pierre St-Jean was a session bassist on Voivod’s album "The Outer Limits". Not that that is a bad thing. I'm as much of a Voivod fan as the next fellow, but wouldn't it be nice if Heaven's Cry could stand on their own talents? I'd say that is more then a possibility as album number three is fairly solid. Not remarkable or anything, but, for what it is, it's well-written and executed. Everyone seems to be on the same page and while nothing really stands out there isn't anything that falls completely flat on it's face. If you like your progressive rock/metal more on the melodic side of things (and I certainly wouldn't blame you if you did) then Heaven's Cry would seem to be a sure fire bet to get your juices flowing. The band seems content to keep things fairly care-free and some tracks almost come off as extended jams that have been squeezed into four minute songs. Yeah, I'm aware that does not quite make sense when I type it, but the music warrants such a description. Certainly a release to check out if you love all things prog in nature.