Sun Caged — Dominion

Usually I'm not really into progressive-metal, I'm certainly no expert with this kind of music, but I can hear if a band has talent and writes good songs. The Dutch Sun Caged released the impresive 'Dominion' EP in October of 2001. The band was formed in the spring of 1999 by drummer Dennis Leeflang (ex-Within Temptation), guitarist Marcel Coenen (ex-Lemur Voice) and bassist/Chapman Stick player Rob van der Loo (ex-Rock Fiction/Agony). After having recorded a demo called 'Scar Winter' in 2000 (featuring 3 guest-singers and a guest-keyboardist), singer Sascha Burchard and keyboard player Joost van den Broek joined the band.

'Dominion' starts with the song 'Curiousity Kills', which is my favourite song on the EP. It's a great mixture of technical, complex, progressive metal with the occasional fusion influence. Sascha has a great voice, which sometimes sounds a bit like Bruce Dickinson. Not really unique, but he does a great job on all of the songs. The instrumentation is tight, really tight. All musicians are skilled players, and they know their instruments very well. Extra kudos to Rob van der Loo, I've seen him live and he does things on his bass-guitar I thought were impossible.

Second song 'Four Guilders' is a diverse, technical instrumental, which is quite impressive. Not only do the band members showcase their abilities on their instruments very well, but they also know how to write an interesting and good song. The same can be said about third track 'Sides', which is an impressive prog-metal song. Again I like Sasha's vocals a lot. He writes some impressive vocal-lines and it's hard not to sing-a-long with him. The same counts for last song 'The Escape', which has a more accesible song structure than the rest of the EP. I bet this one is a favourite during concerts.

So all in all Sun Caged impressed me with 'Dominion'. The band has a lot of potential to become one of the bigger metal acts in their homecountry, and maybe even outside it's borders. All they need is a record label to support them, and some good luck.