Sculptured is a band that's not afraid to take chances, even if it leads to a few awkward moments here and there. Such is the case with this, their second full-length album. They start with a basic enough foundation of melodic mid-tempo metal, fronted by a mix of deep-voiced melodic singing and death metal growls. However, their songs are peppered with all sorts of unexpected twists, most notably the trumpet/trombone parts that show up throughout the record (counting a couple of jazz-schooled trumpet solos). Listeners will also encounter collaged TV-dialogue samples and an extended guitar-noise drone ("Apollo Destroys, Apollo Creates"), along with explicit nods to soundtrack composer
Ennio Morricone (the lonely whistling interlude in "Snow Covers All") and saxophonist
John Zorn (the brief channel-surfing closer, "Summary"). The real focus, though, is on leader Don Anderson's multi-layered, harmonized guitar leads, and this is where the album really excels. His lines have one foot in classic heavy metal (think
Iron Maiden) and the other in avant-garde experimentalism, and they are at once catchy and dissonant. The production is relatively sub-par: it's clean, but also a bit flat (especially the drums), and in this regard the album feels as much like an expensive demo as it does a "legitimate" album. The material itself compensates, though, as it manages to be interesting -- in a head-scratching, "What is going on here?" sort of way -- as well as memorable and emotionally engaging. Listeners should, however, approach
Apollo Ends with an open mind, because it is an unusual piece of work and certainly not garden-variety metal. ~ William York