On of the most ardent characters within the contemporary British prog community is Guy Manning, Almost four years since Metaphor's last album, "Starfooted" (reviewed in Tarkus no 13). This time they have left the Bible as a theme in favour of death, and whether or not it is a change for the better is hard to say.

Style-wise they operate within the same area, (un)melodic neo-prog, yes, beacuse the melodies are still not vey exciting. It seems like the lyrics are written first and then the music, something whicxh often results in rather artificially constructed melodies. So once again, the instrumental parts are the most successful, and I do think that "Entertaining Thanatos" as a whole is an album with more substance than "Starfooted". But I wish they learnt to write songs that felt more comfortable in the ear, hopefully resulting in more music and less playing.

©2004 Tarkus Magazine

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