O.: "What do a chicken egg and the band ARCHETYPE have in common? It seems like a stupid question, but no! Let's compare an egg to a musical act: the shell is the rigid foundation of the egg, beneath which a life-giving filling is safely stored, capable of becoming an independent chicken that will continue hatching future generations... Now blow the contents out of the egg — and you get the work of ARCHETYPE (a barren egg of perfect form): the hard, rigid shell is their musical framework, technically executed to perfection yet absolutely empty, filled with nothing, because over 70 minutes of tedious riffing one can detect only banal rhymes and a complete disconnect of the band from reality. In short, by the 15th minute of listening I was felled by a deep sleep...
P.S. I must, however, give credit to the musical inventiveness of the band members: every egg has an air pocket, and in the work of this outfit that pocket consists of RARE flashes of original musical themes..."
C.: "Three years in the making, the debut disc from American quartet ARCHETYPE traveled from a homespun CD-R edition in 2000, past a minuscule pressing on a tiny label in 2002, to a serious international release on Limb Music last autumn. The dry, methodical power-prog fit right into the Limb Music roster, already oversaturated with that particular combination. What can one say — ARCHETYPE have a couple of aces up their sleeve capable of spoiling the mood of European dragon-slayers: those dashing thrash-driven surges, devilish folk flourishes dancing on hot coals, and the sugary cascades of Castilian rhapsodies. Mmm, sweet... or so it would seem. But not everything is rosy. When the miles-long solos and serpentine drum fills set your brain spinning, the entire ward thanks the American outlaws with a thunderous, villainous snore. In the end, "Dawning" is a consistent, surprise-free, predictable album — a perfectly typical specimen of one of heavy metal's less original subgenres. Best tracks: "Hands Of Time" and "Visionary."
Album provided by the Soyuz Group."