WHILE HEAVEN WEPT

Virginia-based WHILE HEAVEN WEPT consists of the core seven players of Rain Irving (lead vocals),Jim Hunter (bass),Jason Lingle (keys/vocals),Scott Loose (electric guitar),Tom Phillips (electric and acoustic guitars and synths),Michelle Schrotz (keys/vocals) and Trevor Schrotz (drums/percussion). Many, including Tom Phillips, have been in the prog metal band BRAVE at one point or another. Phillips (also formerly of SOLSTICE) being the main writer and mastermind, leads WHILE HEAVEN WEPT through their lavish sixth album "Suspended at Aphelion" while changing the band's rules considerably.

Though WHILE HEAVEN WEPT has historically been considered a doom-based prog outfit, "Suspended at Aphelion" doesn't feel anywhere near as cumbersome nor concussive with the band's extensive configurations and frequently lighter approaches. Obviously reaching for a higher caliber of craft and finding the wherewithal to climb out of the ensemble's customary murk, "Suspended at Aphelion" is a skillful piece that may or may not stun longtime followers.

Additional musicians had a hand in filling up "Suspended at Aphelion", including Victor Arduini (lead guitars on "Reminisce of Strangers" and "Lifelines Lost"),Mark Shuping (cellos and violins),Christopher Ladd (classical guitar) and Mark Zonder (drums). Veteran prog metal fans will recognize Arduini and Zonder as former members of FATES WARNING. In many ways reminiscent of later year SAVATAGE and STYX at their prime, "Suspended in Aphelion" is designed as a forty-minute piece, broken down into eleven sections. There are varying levels of heaviness on this album, even flirting just a smidge into black metal territory.

Opening and closing with the elegant Baroque sonatas "Introspectus" and "Retrospectus", "Suspended in Aphelion" takes a methodic yet effective journey in search of harmony with most of the intensity loaded toward the front of the album. WHILE HEAVEN WEPT then sweeps their listeners through neoclassical waves, metallic overtures and tuneful pinnacles with lead vocalist Rain Irving keeping it all locked at his proverbial hip.

The doom elements are there subtly, but perhaps a little more time was spent by Phillips and the group with OPETH and KATATONIA as with their conventional prog influences. At least the opening quarter of "Suspended at Aphelion" feels borne from OPETH's ghostly reveries. You do and don't see it coming when Rain Irving drops out of his compelling swoon on "Icarus and I" into a couple of demon squawks as the guitars spelunk through a sequence of charred black metal chords. Both Irving and the rest of the band elevate from these frightening segues with harmonic overtures that climax on the heels of a spiked tempo and a weepy guitar solo.

Transitioning into the quietus of "Ardor", Rain Irving asserts himself through a gorgeous theater of winding acoustic lines and airy synths before the song picks up a heavier stride. The backing vocals behind Irving create an aromatic zeal hovering atop the picked-up double hammer march and rising guitars and keys. At its apex, "Ardor" reaches into STYX territory then drops into a traditional folk melody via piano to introduce the largely soft "Heartburst". Finishing "Heartburst" as a slow, neoclassical power ballad, WHILE HEAVEN WEPT steps up the pace with the brisk, Malmsteen-esque instrumental "Indifference Turned Paralysis", offering classical-bred chops that swim amidst the song's overt gallop and echoing keys.

The remainder of "Suspended at Aphelion" trails through melodic power prog numbers like "The Memory of Bleeding", "Reminisce of Strangers" and "Lifelines Lost", the latter of which explodes with guitar and key scales galore yet culminates with huge, theatrical vocals as a dramatic exeunt into the finale, "Retrospectus", which is hardly somber. Wistful is the more operative word.

What's great about "Suspended at Aphelion" aside from its harmonious possessions and ascension to hope is its efficiency. "Icarus and I" may be a lengthy number, but all the ground that's covered by WHILE HEAVEN WEPT within forty minutes is something that should be subscribed to by prog metal practitioners at-large. With far less wank and much more thought devoted to structure with room for flair, "Suspended at Aphelion" is this band's most accomplished work, if not their heaviest. For a band that has made sorrow its ally over the years, "Suspended at Aphelion" changes the script and dare we say, they sound pretty damned happy.