A Fragile Mind

If a huge meteor were to fatally damage our beloved planet Earth, it might be expected that only two things would survive — cockroaches and prog metal. Despite a rapid turnover of hard rock styles and subgenres over the years, prog metal always seems to survive. A case in point: the fourth release by San Francisco's Zero Hour, 2005's A Fragile Mind. All the pieces are in place for a prog metal party — singer Fred Marshall's Geoff Tate-esque vocals, guitarist Jasun Tipton's John Petrucci-esque six-string work, and (of course) thinking man's lyrics and tricky song structures. This is the type of stuff that requires hours upon hours of listening alone in your bedroom to be able to play, and Zero Hour's instrumental chops are never in question here, as evidenced by such selections as "Destiny Is Sorrow" and the title track. And no prog metal album would be complete without an instrumental, and Zero Hour gives you not one, but two — "Somnecrophobia" and the album-closing "Intrinsic." For prog metal with a power metal edge, A Fragile Mind is the album to beat in 2005.