Halcyon Failure

Reviews: 1. 'Progeriffic!!!'- Josh Eppard (Drummer of Coheed and Cambria) 2. 'You are probably wondering why I listened to and am reviewing the debut album by the band Sios called Halcyon Failure. I guess it is not surprising that I am listening to progressive rock, but there is more to the story. You see, all 4 band members of Sios list musical influences to be 3, Tool and Coheed and Cambria and I personally tend to avoid music by those 3 bands. You certainly can hear the influence of those bands (not Tool nearly as much) on Halcyon Failure, but just because I am not a big fan of those 3 'biggies' of the modern progressive rock and metal field, don't assume I am not going to like Halcyon Failure. In fact, I really do like Halcyon Failure quite a lot and I guess I need to figure out why. Overall, Halcyon Failure should be considered a modern progressive rock album. It is hard for me decide if alternative rock should be a primary or secondary genre as every couple of minutes I kept changing my wind. I guess it is really not that important as long as you realize this is a modern sounding album. The progressive metal influence found scattered throughout album in the guitar work made me very happy as I don't think of this in the same breathe as 3 or Coheed and Cambria. While we are on the prog metal kick, I really like lead vocalist Phillip DeFreitas and he has a voice that would be more than welcome in a band like Suspyre. I like the band's harmonies accompanying Phillip. Halcyon Failure is a concept album but I would not expect a ton of dramatic vocals. The band let's the music do the talking with an every changing musical landscape. There are some dramatic changes from some tranquil and atmospheric sections to some heavy riff oriented sections and even the metal guitar I talked about earlier. This type of musical style is at it best on my 2 favorite songs Lost in Wonderland and The Walls of Morado. Enough about the music as I have to let you figure it all out for yourself! I would like to mention that Sios is a very young band. As of the time of this review, the band members ages are 23, 20, 17, and 16! This certainly doesn't sound like music you would find at a High School Band Rock Off competition. This is much more mature sounding and serious than that type of music - just check out the excellent mellow but very emotional song Heaven if you want further proof! If you want to check out samples of the music found on Halcyon Failure, head over to Bandcamp as the album is streaming in it's entirety as of the time of this review. I can't imagine fans of modern progressive rock would not enjoy this album. It has a lot to offer you.'- Butterflyman.