The Third Ending - The Third Ending (T3E)
Self-financed

file under prog / sympho metal

Evil Dr. Smith: Irritating or intriguing, that’s the question. Lords Of Metal chief editor Horst is crystal clear: this is bloody annoying! Stubborn as I am, I tend to move to the intriguing part. Object of the discussion is the artwork of the debut album from The Third Ending. The booklet is made from transparent plastic (think for example of Tool’s ‘Lateralus’) and all lyrics and credits are written in vertical lines. Also due to the use of different fonts and different character sizes, it may looks like pretty chaotic. But if you take a closer look, you see the band logo (annex album title: T3E) on each page as well, appearing from out of those confused heap of letters. This arty home industry is also done on the backside of the jewel case.

I already mentioned the name Tool. They are in a light-weighted way, but with an explicit influence present in the marvellous openings track ‘Eleven’. What an majestic, imposing song? Who and what is this completely unknown band that is able to create such beauty? The Third Ending appears to be a symphonic rock band with slight progmetal and 70s prog elements, and hails from Tasmania (Australia). They impress with a small hour of sophisticated sympho, passionate vocals, enslaving melodies, enchanting hooks, multi-depth atmosphere, majestic riffing and a lovely transparent (hey…) production. Although they orientate more in the symphonic genre, they tend to try building a bridge between the mainly rather slick and sweetened symphonic rock and the more muscular progmetal. So the influences of bands like Arena, Flower Kings, Glashammer and above all Spock’s Beard are undeniable, but also the thrilling guitar hook in ‘Tungsten Blues’ would make Dream Theater and Tool jealous. It’s very much progrock-approved, but The Third Ending recorded also an extremely long song, which started with ‘Fingerprints’ and works through five other segments to finally conclude with a reprise of that song half an hour later. An extra cheer for singer Nick Storr who can sing the vocal lines of James LaBrie ina way that Neal Morse would have done.

The band is surrounded by good omens: they might think it’s a pain in the ass that album is already sold-out due to high demand by pre-orders, even before the album hit the record stores (!!!), but I think that only adds the feeling we have something special here in our hands. So have a little patient for the official release date is there, but don’t wait too patiently, because this band is sympho with a bite and prog with feeling. You don’t find that every day anymore.

Evil Dr. Smith diagnoses: 84/100 (details)

http://www.thethirdending.com