Ice Age go back to around the turn of the century when they released a couple of albums before disappearing. In April of this year (2023) they reappeared out of nowhere to release this third album – Waves of Loss and Power.
A friend recommended it to me saying the album his classy progressive metal – and on buying a copy of the album I can certainly agree with, and thank, my friend for the recommendation.
The album has all the required elements pieced together in well written songs and excellent musicianship being a real pleasure to listen to including the epic pieces and some shorter, punchier songs.
Excellent varied riffs, scorching solos, inventive drumming, intricate, flowing bass nicely up in the mix, good use of a variety of keyboards and synths and rangy vocals going together to make the hour or so running time flash by.
The longer songs (for example two with fifteen minutes each) hold the attention and do not feel bloated or extended for the sake of it. The shorter are punchy sandwiched between the more expansive tracks.
Taking the longer tracks first…..
The Needle’s Eye hits hard immediately and does not let up over the seven minutes and packs a lot in to it giving everything progressive metal with a symphonic edge requires.
Riverflow goes to ten minutes with the big guitar coming in after the piano intro falls away. A nicely paced melodic element here with the sweeping chorus.
Perpetual Child Part II: Forever is a quarter of an hour of sublime twisting and turning heavy prog with many time changes making it so impressive. As does the closing track of To Say Goodbye Part V: Water Child. Another fifteen minutes of classy, sublime, heavy, symphonic, progressive metal as one could wish to hear. The two minute piano piece of To Say Goodbye Part IV: Remembrance is a nice touch.
In between the epics, All My Years has Ice Age thumping out four minutes of an upbeat, catchy, more melodic song which has a spiky riff and a hook which gets straight in to your head. Shows how the band can throw in stuff like this amongst the longer stuff. Same applies to Float Away.
Have a listen to All My Years:
Overall: Wave of Loss and Power comes in as an hour of first class progressive metal. Fresh and upbeat with a nod back to the old days too.
Think the likes of classic Kansas, Styx, Symphony X, Shadow Gallery, Dream Theatre and similar in their prime. If you like that sort of stuff then you won’t go wrong with Ice Age. Waves of Loss and Power is a majestic offering.
>> ICE AGE WAVES OF LOSS AND POWER ON AMAZON <<