Releases by acuity

Acuity is a symphonic prog band from Michigan, US. Bradley Styes, the brain of the band writes the music and most of the lyrics. The origin of Acuity's songs are in the 70's progressive bands like Genesis or Rush among others and the sound is fresh while variating widely in every track, mixing acoustic and electric guitar, piano, synth and melotron. Skyward, their only record released in 2004, presents an awesome work. Songs over five minutes like Vector, and some others reaching twenty minutes long, tells us this is a very diverse open minded project, showing differences minute by minute in its musical and lyrical way. ACUITY is a hard-edged symphonic prog band from Michigan lead by Bradley Styes, who is also responsible for the music and most of the lyrics. With the exception of violinist Matthew Parmenter's guest appearance and Chuck Mitchell, who did the cover art and contributed to one of the tracks, none of the musicians are listed on the album sleeve - unfortunately, their website isn't of much help either. This being said, ACUITY are certainly worth checking out. What characterizes their album "Skyward" is its energetic guitar riffs, complex arrangements and full-bodied melodies. The songs are varied enough, the vocalist could be placed in the 'average-to-fair' category and the lyrics have a certain morbid, tongue-in-cheek piquant - not quite as verbose as Peter HAMMILL's but interesting enough. Although the production could use a little 'oomph', the album has its share of memorable moments, featuring two epic pieces that will keep many a progster's ears riveted through some fine lengthy musical mellotron sections with many chord shifts and tempo changes. This material doesn't break any grounds but should please a variety of hard prog lovers, from RUSH to LED ZEPPELIN to VDGG fans. : : : Lise (HIBOU), CANADA : : : Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.