Poverty's no Crime
A Secret to Hide

Poverty’s no Crime has been around for a long while no, the German progressive metallers that reminds us of the simple truth that it isn’t a crime to be poor has done eight albums counting this new one. A Secret to Hide is coming just in time for the 30th anniversary of the band, and it has an electric and exciting artwork. I remember when I first heard the band, I was impressed by their brand of music and the novelty they offered, it was kind of electric. Many years and some albums have passed since then and Volker and co was presented with a bit of a challenge when conceiving this album. The restrictions for the Coronavirus forced them to improvise a bit, they didn’t meet once during the process but recorded in bedrooms, living rooms, kitchens, and things like that at home.

Now, one might think that such challenges would drive the ideas to a state of overdrive as well, but the fact is that there is quite a bit of normality on this album. It sounds like Poverty’s no Crime usually does, it is the same structures of songs, their brand of melodic progressive metal that takes inspiration from the big names like Dream Theater, Fates Warning, Rush and things like that. They have their brand, but it is distinctly in the style that we call progressive metal, and I would say that they offer very few surprises. One surprise is how vital the sound is, maybe the restrictions and odder recording situations gave this more alive soundscape we get to hear on this album. The songs themselves are of Poverty’s no Crime’s typical structures that haven’t really changed for the entire time I have heard the band. True to the progressive format the album is pretty long with about an hour of playing time, but it never really gets too long or too much, but as is often the case with progressive bands there is some room to trim away some excesses.

Cool cover and great album, those are the leading impressions when I have listened to this album for a while now. I the sound is probably the most confident and impressive the band has given us, and their performances are great which is especially illustrated by the great vocals. But I do think that they are missing the novelty aspects, the need for the sensation of hearing something really fresh and exciting can never be understated, and in that regard they are not quite there. Had this been my first contact with the band it probably would have been a different story, but you cannot really overlook the past. Still, it is impressive how the band keeps evolving and fine-tuning their music, and this is a great sounding album that should be appreciated by band fans as well as progressive metal fans, and probably a wider audience – there are no real downsides to it.

It is an album worth checking out, it might not be the most outstanding album ever produced but way better than most albums produced. It also shows Poverty’s no Crime to be a very reliable and relevant band that keeps delivering impressive albums that are well worth listening to. I don’t think that it is a secret to hide, it is an album to be revealed for the masses as most of them will be impressed.

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