Label: Atenzia Records

Tracks:

1. Intro 0:48
2. Wailings from a Building 4:21
3. Mr. Landlord 4:40
4. Torn by a Phrase 5:35
5. Ted's Ballad 3:46
6. Dance of Mr. Gumble 2:09
7. Wake Up 4:27
8. Manipulator 6:13
9. A Loaded Situation 3:29
10. The Observer 3:07
11. The Cause 3:26
12. The Effect 4:39
13. Summary 5:04
14. Outro 1:15

Musicians:

• Herman Saming - lead and backing vocals
• Jerry Sahlin - keyboards, vocoder, lead and backing vocals
• Peter Asp - bass guitar, backing vocals, percussion
• Ola Andersson - guitars, lead and backing vocals
• Thomas Lejon - drums

Guest musicians:

• Sara Svensson: Lead vocals on "The Effect"
• Thomas Erlandsson: Percussion

String quartet:

• Stefan Pontinen, violin
• Kajse-Lotta Soleke, violin
• Malin Wikblad, viola
• Per Tidstrand, cello

Here we have again the most positive band of the current progressive rock.

A.C.T is a peculiar band. First of all, its influences can be clearly guessed in each of the tracks that make up this concept work called "Last Epic", and nevertheless, they never copy from any band. It is necessary to qualify of unusual the fact that being a group of progressive rock influenced by lots of different bands, we can not find any of those 8 or 9 mythical English bands we all know among those bands. The references to understand A.C.T's new work are, as always, City Boy, It Bites, Jellyfish, Aviary, Saga, Dream Theater, Kansas, ELO, 10cc, Styx, and Queen, among others.

It's possible that some prog-heads do not like A.C.T's style, and I don't say this because they are of a great complexity, not even for opposite: they don't make a structurally very simple or attainable prog-rock. The problem for some could be these so poppy and mellow melodies, and the AOR influences that not everybody can accept. But they must admit that A.C.T makes, in essence, progressive rock, and that this album is of a great instrumental wealth, very well arranged and finished, and that they know what to do with the different voices.

"Last Epic" is the best work to date by this Swedish guys, a great album of pure entertainment, great melodies, lots of changes of style and rhythm, progressions, and happiness and good mood. A less fast album and with less metal guitars than the previous ones, but with better obtained melodies. A work better done in general. As in both previous ones they have included a final suite divided into several parts. "Last Epic" is in its integrity a concept work.

Tracks as "Wailings from a Building", "Ted's Ballad", "Wake Up", "Manipulator", "The Cause" or "Summary" are excellent, especially due to the melodies and the variety of musical forms. They include even reggae rhythms, that are correctly integrated in some tracks, something that, remember it, already did Rush in the past.

Also it is necessary to congratulate this initiative that many current groups are taking, to include a string quartet to enrich their music, ACT is one of them, and it works very well in most of the tracks.

I think that ACT are reaching their hour for the success in the prog scene, and they have done the album for it.

Rating: 8/10

Ferran Lizana