Review by Denis on November 26, 2002.

I became very interested with Post Black Metal bands when I first heard The Kovenant' "In Times Before The Light". This was a revelation for me. The story went on with Limbonic Art' "The Ultimate Death Worship". Now the Switzerland answer to this movement is the outstanding debut from Meridian. Thanks to Season of Mist for signing such a good band and giving us the chance to discover these extremely talented musicians. Don't feel bad all of you people and artists from Norway but hey you can't have them all!

To give you an idea of these guys' talents, all it took them to be drafted by Season of Mist is a MCD called "Daydream in the Postdementia Millennium" released in 2000. Being a young band formed in 1999 by M.T Random (drums), Paris (vocals) and Drakon (guitars). The last member to join the team was Arwan (keyboard). “The Seventh Sun” was recorded at the Sound Suite Studio and the producer is no one else than Terje Refnes well known for his work with Tristania and The Sins Of Thy Beloved. A special contribution for the vocals parts were done by Jack D Ripper from Morgul.

This album knocked me out right from the start. The more I listened to it, the better it got. First impression is: good stuff, easily turning to: great and ultimately growing on you to the point of becoming simply: Awsome! I hardly ever heard such a good debut album. You get the feeling that these guys have been playing together for ages and that their machine is tuned up to a perfect sound harmony. The production work is, as always with Mr. Refnes, just perfect. His touch is recognizable and remarkable.

Nine tracks of brilliant Post Black Metal is what this album is made off. While the basic elements of Black Metal remain intact with the fast instruments and precise executions, great riffs, creepy voices and so on, Meridian spiced it up with tasty additions. It can be felt throughout the compositions by way of grandiose keyboard partitions, vocal effects, progressive turns, slower and melodic passages and generally speaking, a magnificent aura sparkling with all its vibrant colors blessing their imaginative musical structures. Add to this walls of guitar partitions, frequent shift of modes and musical directions. Meridian has been able to put together the aggressiveness and raw power of Black Metal standards with the complexity of Progressive arrangements linked by melodic interludes in an overall Avant-garde landscape. Quite a breathtaking sonic experience has been created.

But I think there's a catch to this. These guys must be some old timers re-united and using nicknames to remain undercovered. It's too good to be true. No way this can be from a new band made of unknown new musicians. Maybe somebody out there can help me solve this mystery.

Bottom Line: Old timers or pure young genius minds?

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9.5
Atmosphere: 9
Originality: 9
Production: 10
Overall: 9.5

Rating: 9.4 out of 10

Review by Tobias on July 30, 2002.

There are no mistakes in the album title, for this is space metal in every sense; the keyboards are reminiscent of galactic flight, the lyrical content theme is all based on science fiction movies, and the entire album was constructed by one man, Arjen Anthony Lucassen... suggesting he’s an alien like Moby and Beck... ok, so the music really has nothing to do with those two artists, but you get the idea.

As a notorious power-metal hater, I found myself confused and annoyed by my contradictory taste for this album. But the more I listened to it, the more I realized why I liked it better than all the other power-trash that’s out there.

To start with, I’m a sci-fi fan. I love all things sci-fi, even if they suck. But this isn’t one of those items of grande-suckage. See, a big part of this is album that a few different vocalists are used to play various character parts of the song to tell classic sci-fi stories, from Dune to Star Wars. Knowing those stories makes listening to the album all that much more fun, because there is no direct reference to any of the story or movie titles, just the plot played out in the lyrics, making the album a bit of a puzzle to challenge sci-fi fans.

Beyond that, the fact that there are four different vocalists here, and none of them (well, maybe one) opted to clamp a clothespin to his ball-sack, along with the fact that the songs are guitar driven rather than the keyboard-drowned fluff that bands like Sonata Arctica put out. In fact, some of the vocals done by Symphony X’s Russel Allen are all-out manly; a feature rarely found in progressive/power. I’d love to hear Geoff Tate on the next Star One chapter.

Now to move on to the music in a broader scope, the progressive melodies and arrangements never get boring, always shifting to something new and better before it ever has a chance. At times the music can hit you like an ominous wall of space-born strength such as in 'The Eye of Ra' (about the film Stargate).

Bottom Line: This is the most interesting and best power-progressive metal release I’ve heard since Queensryche’s "Operation: Mindcrime".

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 8
Atmosphere: 8
Production: 8
Originality: 7
Overall: 8

Rating: 7.8 out of 10