Moments

To say that 2012's spartanly named Moments — Stealing Axion's long brewing "hello" to the world — is a study in contrasts would be an understatement. Not only are the Seattle natives attempting to wrangle several relatively unrelated musical styles into submission in the best progressive metal spirit, they appear to be doing so while wrestling with a wholesale change of direction. Confusing opener "Mirage of Hope" provides a premature glimpse of this predicament, as it rudely and rather inadvisably morphs from mature prog to pubescent mall-core every 30 seconds. Like other ambitious but clumsy mutations that follow (see "Eventide," "Sleepless," etc.), the song is begging for a more sensible adult chaperone to help get its creative hormones under control before someone winds up in the emergency room (Mike Portnoy may available). But ensuing efforts like "Solar" and "Everything Is Nothing" manage these transformations somewhat more efficiently — despite the latter's rampant Meshuggah-isms, a constant throughout the album. And while the jury's still out on whether the band's entire "grand" experiment really makes any sense, give Stealing Axion some credit for trying it on for size. To that end, another intriguing cut, "The Unwanted Gift," successfully contrasts hypnotic guitar leads and pummeling riffs while fearsome growls and soaring melodies duet in the ultimate Beauty & the Beast tradition. Another still, the sappy "It's Too Late Now," tries to pull off one of those overblown Dream Theater epic ballads and fails miserably, while the two-part, 30-minute-plus ending "Moments" suite simply reveals the young band to be out of their depth. At the end of the day, one feels that Stealing Axion may be making a play to provide an American spin on the similarly extreme polarity of Sweden's Scar Symmetry or Canada's Into Eternity, but there's obviously some work and simple maturing still ahead (on the lyric front as well, by the way) for that to be accomplished.