Smarter than the average head-banging bear, Montreal’s Pulse Ultra crank up the paranoia and tricky time-signatures to make a credible (if slightly unremarkable) stab at the really rather ripe pop-metal market. Largely compacted into 3 minute punches, tracks like ‘Acceptance (Phase 1 )’ and ‘Void’ capture all the gothic sorcery needed to heave a metal band into the brutal sonic equivalent of a Lord of The Rings style quest for enlightenment.
Lyrically coming perilously close to the interstellar conscience of minor prog visionaries like Jon Anderson of old croakers, YES, ‘Headspace’ retains enough attitude and compulsion to keep their lyrical flights in check.
Dramatic? Harrowing? Atmospheric? Well yes, Mr Press Officer – but sometimes lacking in light and shade, the hooks and driving points lost all too often lost beneath a spooky mist of complexity and over-emoting.
Pulse Ultra are presently playing all the right notes – but not necessarily in the right order.