In-Tension is a young band from The Netherlands, who just released their new album, entitled ‘Fragments’. And as far I am concerned a lot of other bands might wish that they had released this one. Easy atmospheric melodic prog metal with beautiful and crystal clear vocals from singer Noortje van de Voort. One can of course hear influences from bands like Dream Theater, Ayreon and Within Temptation, but as a whole I think the band can be compared best to other Dutch acts like Day Six and Nemesea.

The musicians are all very well skilled indeed, but Michiel B. would not be Michiel B. if there were not some things to bitch about (in a constructive way of course). I think that song titles like “Dying In Beauty”, “World Of Illusions”, “Frozen Memories” and “Empty” a bit too much on the cliché side. Furthermore In-Tension strikes me as a band that will do better in the CD-player than live on stage, unless the band takes along a sound engineer who can put some balls into the music in a live situation. But nevertheless it is obvious that we are dealing here with a bunch of youngsters with great musical potential. Something the guys from the Progpower festival also have noticed. They have booked the band for the upcoming edition of this cool festival, and as far as I am concerned that band deserved this.

Judge M.'s verdict: 82/100