O3: A Trilogy is a concept album series by Dominici (progressive metal formed in 2005 by ex-Dream Theater vocalist Charlie Dominici) released between 2005 and 2008. It speaks of a terrorist sleeper cell coming to the United States and falling in love with the country. He wanted to destroy the world but he started having second thoughts and finally quit his quest. This third part was released in 2008 and is the Grand Finale of this truly amazing progressive music effort!
This album was recorded by Inside Out Music Label which is responsible for many successful progressive rock/metal bands in the world today (Ayreon, Amaseffer, Evergrey, Pain of Salvation, Riverside, etc).
As always, the “Making Of” videos are a must in these major musical projects, so watch “The Making of “O3 A Trilogy, part III”” video before we review this magnificent release.
Review
King of Terror
Love the aggression here; I expected the band to be more into power metal than progressive but they proved me wrong right from the start. Just listen at that double bass attack along with those soaring vocals (and really supportive keyboard lines). What Dominici are good at are the catchy choruses and the progressive parts that they manage to squeeze in every song. They were just warming up in this song with little use of their progressive capabilities but the best is yet to come.
Rating: 8/10
March Into Hell
Things starting to get hot around here: the band marches into progressive territories. You’ll get hooked on this album from now onwards! This has a Kreator-like energy with a major progressive feel to it. Love the guitar work on this song (especially the acoustic part at the very end) and kudos for the keyboardist / drummer / bassist who all showed great musicianship here! (Check the song out on their Official Myspace given at the end of the article)
Rating: 9/10
So Help Me God
This is a mellow song with acoustic guitars and an upbeat atmospheric vibe. This song represents the turning point of the concept story itself. I do recommend the song for you readers since such mellow songs do exist in every progressive metal release (usually one or two songs in an album).
Rating: 8/10
Liquid Lightning
This is one of my favorite songs on the album! I mean it’s really important to have catchy choruses like this song has. It really gives the listener something to be hooked on. On the other hand, you have those progressive parts which are just pure ear-gasm material! This band is pretty mellow when it comes to progressive structures: there are no sudden mood shifts or anything like that but the heavy progressive sequencing is there and it’s pretty catchy for the average listener to absorb (check out the video below).
Rating: 9/10
Enemies of God
I love the melody / patterns in this song! A true progressive metal masterpiece this is for the moods it tackles in those 10 minutes. This is a real musical treat and that’s why it’s my second top favorite on this Trilogy’s Grand Finale album! (check the song out on their Official Myspace given at the end of the article)
Rating: 9.5/10
Revelation and Hell On Earth are songs that Charlie (vocalist) impressed me on as he used a variety of vocal tones: from the really heavenly one to the disgusted angry one used on Hell On Earth; he’s a key asset for this band and it shows in their epic choruses which they build the progressive parts around.
Rating: 8/10 for both songs.
Genesis is my favorite song on the album! An 11 minute epic song with its first 4 minutes being an instrumental orgasm (like Inner Quest‘s material – just too exciting)! The epic chorus is also really important here, since they put it between those 4 minutes of epic progressive mastery and the last 3 minutes of also -mammoth- like impact on the listener! I’m certain that most of you readers will favorite this song as well.
