Dimension Zero

O.K., I think it's finally about time to address this whole "supergroup" thing, for this is the perfect example. How many records are we going to see with the sticker "Consisting of members of numerous bands you love..." before everyone realizes that not all of this stuff is worth putting out? Let's see, we have Glenn Ljungström and Jesper Strömblad of both In Flames and Hammerfall, Hans Nilsson of Crystal Age, and Fredrik Johansson from Dark Tranquillity. A teaming of this magnitude should deliver the goods, and I was way excited to get this. Enter problem number one. I live in Hawaii, where I have to mail order all of the cool stuff, so I have to take some shots in the dark. Boy, was I suprised as all hell when I realized that I had spent about a buck a minute on this fine purchase, four minutes of which is jazz noodling. Does everything that comes from these guys' hands get recorded? I just had to get that off my chest, and when I stated that this was the perfect example for extraneous material release, I was actually wrong, for Penetrations from the Lost World actually kicks serious ass. The melding of influences from In Flames and heavier sources is apparent, and the first three tracks travel along at breakneck speed, throwing in the occasional masterful guitar solo. The riffs are killer, the drumming spectacular, and the vocals more than decent, so why does this piss me off so much? Maybe it's the fact that these could have easily been bonus tracks on Whoracle (or actually, could have probably replaced some tracks on that album), but maybe then, the genius would have been overlooked. Overall, complaints of the running time aside, this is a really good disc that will serve to fill many hours in 12 minute increments of brilliance. I realize that this review is somewhat schizophrenic, but I had to balance the strength of the three songs with the running time and price of the album.
8 1/2 out of 10