Well it’s good to see a band from the early 90’s make a comeback, originally formed by twin brothers Jasun (guitar/ keyboards) and Troy (bass) Tipton back in 93, the 2 brothers are extremely talented musicians that sound like they were at a music school like Berklee School of Music. The 2 brothers share a love for creating the same ideas and came up with some fascinating music that really needed to be heard.
The brother originally recruited Erik Rosvold (vocals) who recorded the debut album which was self titled & self released in 99, ltd to 2100 copies (Glad I own one), also with other members Mike Guy (drums) and keyboard wizard Matt Guillory, known for his work with James LaBrie (Dream Theater & Dali’s Dilemma), along with Phillip Bennet who also shared the keyboards for this release.
In 2001 the band released their 2nd album for Sensory Records entitled ‘The Towers of Avarice’, which was a really good album, a strong indication to what was to come, and with the art work handled by Travis Smith (Death/ Nevermore/ Opeth) this album really is a solid and perfect album. Next album to come along was the bands 3rd album ‘Metamorphosis’ also released on Sensory records in 2003.
With rave reviews and interview the band was certainly playing some decent shows opening up for much bigger bands in the Progressive/ Power Metal genre. If I had to describe the bands music I would say they come across between Fates Warning, Psychotic Waltz, Watchtower, Spiral Architect and it’s good to hear band like this mixing these great underrated bands.
2005 saw the band release their next album ‘Fragile Mind’ also on Sensory Records, another killer album with lots of great vocals and music that twisted and turned throughout. 2006 saw Erik leave the band and his replacement was Chris Salinas, former ‘Power of Omens’, who had released 2 albums. Chris was defiantly the right choice for replacement and what a great voice he has, this album would be called ‘Specs of pictures burnt Beyond’.
In 2008 the band would release their next album with Chris at the helm, this album was also a great album with a powerful production and songs. Sadly the band didn’t record anything new as they formed a new band called ‘Cynthesis’ and released a couple of albums.
Now in 2022 the band after some time away return and with a pretty much new line-up, leaving Jasun and Erik been the only original members, as Troy has formed his own band ‘A Dying Planet’, a band that is a little less complex to that of Zero Hour but still a decent band. This new album features new members, bassist Andreas Blomqvist (known for his work with Seventh Wonder), also new drummer Roel Van Helden (Sun Caged) another great band sadly missed.
This album only contains 6 trax, but it is a long album, and songs like ‘Democide’ lasts 14 minutes, and also ‘Stigma’ is 9 minutes and ‘Patient Zero’ clocks in at 10 minutes, so the songs are as always complex and well put together with some great vocals and guitar arrangements, nice drumming here and bass work that adds the special Zero Hour vibe. Other songs on the album are ‘Technocracy’ (the bands 1st promo video), ‘Memento Mori’ & ‘Agenda 21’.
If you like the bands previous albums then you will love this record, there back on form and delivering some great music. It’s great to see that Frontiers are now signing more Progressive band and so far all the acts they have signed are on top form. This is a great album and I hope one day to see them live.