Band : Section A
Album title : Sacrifice
Label : Lion Music
Distributor : Bertus
Release date : 21/05/2010
Release : CD

Oh my, you know I was really convinced I’d come across this band before!? Because even before I checked out the available info on the Internet, I knew Danish guitarist Torben Enevoldsen was involved in this! Enevoldsen, as the fans of instrumental guitar music know, had already released a couple of fairly successful albums during the ‘90s when, towards the closing of that decade, he started getting the need to grow out of the solo thing. With him perfectly capable of playing both the guitar, the bass, and basic keyboards, he went out on a search for a drummer and a singer, because his new project would also have to be vocal!

His idea was to put together a group of people that he admired and would like to work with, so in early 2001 he finally sat down to make a list of possibles. After some asking around, Vanden Plas drummer Andreas Lill, whom ranked real high on the list, was the first to join. Next up was Swedish singer Andy Engberg, whom had just recently left Lion’s Share around then, and instantly interested in working with Enevoldsen and Lill, as both happened to be on hís list of dreamteam people to work with. By then, Enevoldsen had already busied himself writing material for the band, and had decided on a mix of very melodic Hard Rock and the more aggressive and complex Prog Metal of his past. Engberg immediately went into the job deep, writing the lyrics with his friend Conny Welén. Recording sessions began in Spring 2001, continuing in sessions throughout Summer, Enevoldsen inviting a couple of befriended keyboardists (Derek Shirinian of Planet X and Dream Theater fame…and Günter Werno of Vanden Plas) to add extra spice to the album with their solos. The result, Section A’s debut album The Seventh Sign, was eventually released through Lion Music in April 2003, with a simultaneous release in Japan through major players Marquee/ Avalon.

Pushed by the practical problems involved in having ttheir drummer so far away from their own homestead, Engberg and Enevoldsen parted ways with Lill on amical terms in 2004, replacing him with former Lion’s Share drummer Johan Koleberg Together, they recorded Section A’s conceptual album Parallel Lives (with contributions from ex-Lion’s Share’s Pontus Egberg and ex-Yngwie Malmsteen’s Mats Olausson), released by Lion Music and Gencross in February 2006. Almost immediately after the album’s release Enevodlsen started the writing process for a new batch of songs, but with Koleberg also getting tenures in other bands, things became increasingly dificult to align everybody’s schedule in order to get together, and in the Fall Engberg and Enevoldsen again had to part (on friendly terms, mind you) with their drummer. For a replacement, Enevoldsen turned to old friend and former bandmate Thomas Heintzelmann, whom readily accepted to join in October 2007. Loyal fans keeping up with the band through their MySpace must’ve been worried when in July 2008, Enevoldsen announced he was forced to put the further development of the album on hold due to some disappointments…without explaining any further, but also stating he needed to make quite some decisions. In early December the fans were able to breathe more easily again, when he announced that the band was back on track and had actually already recorded 5 of the songs (the music at Denmark’s Funny Farm Studios, the vocals in sweden’s Stonetower Studios) on the album. By March 2010, all 10 of ‘em were recorded, and in late July the band went into the mixing phase (again at Funny Farm). In early October Enevoldsen announced proudly that the album had just been mastered by Torben Lysholm (see also recent review of Pangea album).

Stylistically, the new album is somewhat different from its predecessors, geared more towards a Metal and being a bit less Progressive, more straight-forward. With the keyboards overall rather used as atmospheric backgrounds, there was room for only one guest appearance, performed by Circus Maximus’ Lasse Finbräten on the track “Land Of The Desert Sun”…which through the additional keyboards stands out quite gloriously on the album! But even with the harsher musical direction, this is still very much a Section A album, in the first place thanks to Engberg’s glorious and signature vocals, in the second place thanks to Enevoldsen’s still Progressively flavoured guittar work. I cannot shed the thought that this is again a concept album (the references to Christianity are simply too plentyful), even if not so mentioned in the label’s info sheet or on the band’s MySpace. You can explore the differences between the new album and older material at myspace.com/sectionaband (or can you really? I just learned MySpace has changed the availability of posted tracks – and here I was thinking it was due to things being changed at the network pc I have to use to get onto the Internet highway of information), where the band posted 2 songs off the new album (the really catchy album opener “Sacrifice” and the aformentioned “Land Of The Desert Sun”) alongside 4 songs off the previous album and one off the debut.

90/100

Tony.