Unwritten Pages – Fringe Kitchen (2012)

Arriving from the Netherlands today we have a pretty interesting Progressive Metal/Rock release with Unwritten Pages “Fringe Kitchen”. Featuring over 65 minutes of enchanting melodies, this album is quite a musical experience from start to end. Bordering more in the ‘commercial/Mainstream” side of things, “Fringe Kitchen” delivers nine excellently composed tracks that have something for every fan of the genre.

Setting a very cinematic tone with “Hejo”, the band quickly begins building a nice atmosphere to things. This bleeds into “Asylum Tragedy”, a mysterious progressive piece with excellent percussions and a nice futuristic vibe. Things get a bit heavier with “Intoxicating Sweets”, with the band building some nice powerful distorted guitars into their weird but intoxicating atmosphere. Having six musicians in the band that handle all kinds of different instruments, keyboards and an array of backing vocals makes Unwritten Pages sound very rich and diverse, with so many layers to pay attention to.

Thing keep building up with the lush “Perfect Incentive” and it’s pounding guitars and pulsating bass guitar line, but it is the rollercoaster experience of “Cloud Infinite” that really shows the band’s explosiveness and excellent skills when it comes to creating progressive music. Our favorite track in this release is the very mellow and emotional “Wasted Land”. Mixing some acoustic elements with lush vocals, gives this song a very mellow start, but the extravagant atmospheric passages in this song is what makes it magical for us.

Closing with “Auxiliary Influx”, this song reminded us a bit of the atmospheric elements of Elfonia, and interestingly enough, Alejandro Millán from said band used to play keyboards for Unwritten Pages few years ago. Sometimes this track borders in Post-Rock areas, but it gets quickly pulled back into Progressive Metal lands with a very catchy chorus section.

Overall, we have to say that “Fringe Kitchen” is a very interesting experience that should not be missed by fans of the genre. All members of the band are extremely talented musicians and they all come together very nicely in Unwritten pages. If you are looking for music to relax and enjoy, it can’t get any better than this.

Release: March 25th, 2012

Country: Netherlands