Here we’ve got an album with many backs and forths. I guess the label Progressive Power Metal favors a lot this kind of thing as it allows the band to have a little more flexibility. Well, “Asymmetry” is a very flexible album in terms of musical shifts as album first blood “Grand Cosmos” tells the fan. By the way, just take a quick look at the names the album features as special guests. Names as Derek Sherinian, Tony MacAlpine, Michele Luppi, and Timo Tolkki. Wow, that says a lot.
Wheel of Time, and their mastermind Jimmie Hong, knew how to use very well all the names aforementioned. If “Asymmetry” were a book, each track would be like a different story. There are lots of influences I could tell you, for instance Kansas and Foreigner, one for the Prog Rock part and the other for the AOL part. As so, there are some 1970s keyboards in tracks as “Freedom Day” that address a lot to Prog Rock even though the song has faster and harder parts. The initial moments of “Blind Sight” made me remember of the Metal Church all time classic “Watch the Children Pray,“ but it is only the beginning with the guitar solo, then the track takes a very different patch into Metalville with a pretty hard knocking guitar riff. Yeah, this is an album of many references. Another thing that calls the attention to “Asymmetry” is that all tracks have many shifts in tempo, cadence, and mood. “Addicted!…,” for instance, boosts the pace being the heaviest track of the album. Really heavy guitars in here, I must say. It’s a combination of Power Metal guitars and Prog Rock keyboards plus some other effects. I’d also say Queenrÿsche played a huge part in inspirating the band.
An interesting fact about “Asymmetry” is that, according to the press release, ‘it was created through a truly global collaboration. Jimmie Hong, the mastermind, worked with musicians across five continents and more than ten time zones, while independently writing, arranging, and producing the entire album from his home studio. Notably, Wheel of Time will be used as a case study at the Institute of Popular Music at the University of Liverpool in 2025, highlighting new models of high-quality independent album production.’
Yeah, “Asymmetry” is an album of our time.
Wheel of Time “Asymmetry” will be released on November 14th.
Track Listing:
1 Grand Cosmos (ft. Derek Sherinian)
2 Freedom Day (ft. Derek Sherinian & Michele Luppi)
3 Blind Sight (ft. Alexandre Aposan)
4 Addicted!… (ft. Derek Sherinian & Timo Tolkki)
5 … To the Awakening (ft. Tom MacLean)
6 The Night of Eternity (ft. Derek Sherinian)
7 China Moon
8 2063 (ft. Tony MacAlpine)
Watch “China Moon” official music video here:
I’m just a lucky guy who has chosen metal to live with for a long time. Metal changed my life for good. It made me more confident and stronger. Metalheads are naturally far away from the mass mediocrity and don’t accept impostures from anybody else. Metal is more than music, it’s a life changing oportunity!