The blurb at "Ice Age's" Magna Carta web page compares them to progressive rock bands like Kansas, and goes to pains to point out these guys are not a metal band. Accordingly, it was a big surprise when I popped their debut album, "The Great Divide" and got hit with an aggressive, bass-driven opening lines on "Perpetual Child." The song goes on to challenge the listener's ears with a few riffs that might not have sounded out of place on an early Dream Theater album, leading me to further questioning of the "not progressive metal" claim.

Constrictive labels aside, "The Great Divide" turns out to be a pretty cool album, with vocalist/keyboardist Josh Pincus joining up with guitarist Jimmy Pappas to construct more than their share of tasty melodies. The opening track, the 10-plus minute "Perpetual Child," begins with a 2 and a half-minute instrumental segment in which the rhythm section and the lead instrumental trade the spotlight back and forth. Except for a few annoying seconds, in which Pincus chants, "Lost Inside/The Great Divide," in a cliché laden rhythmic pattern, it might have been the best song on the disc.

Later on, Pincus redeems himself in "The Bottom Line," with a vocal line that seems to supply all the menace missing from the new Star Wars movie. The guitar and bass follow suit, laying out growling undertones for a song that starts out apparently talking about the growing pains in the music business and evolves to include general examples of the unfairness of life, "There's a shabby-looking guy (at the bottom)/Don't look him in the eye (at the bottom)/Hurry on by/at the bottom line."

Somewhere in between those two tracks, "Ice Age" strikes gold with a rollicking instrumental called, "Spare Chicken Parts." Augmented by a sample of the chicken at the beginning, and a short drum solo amidst the rest of the fun, it's the coolest track the band has to offer this time around.

After a pretty steady first 40 minutes, the disc staggers to a rather uneven finish. For most of the 11-minute song "Ice Age," the listener is treated to a solid song. Starting with an atmospheric opening, it features Pincus singing in his dramatic mode, while trading riffs with Pappas. Near the end, however, he performs a few vocal gymnastics that are just too over the top. The last three minutes are marred by Pincus' distracting, and frankly, annoying vocal delivery (think, maybe, Busta Rhymes?).

The next song, "One Look Away," has a few lyrics that look like Jon Anderson (Yes) played a prominent part in their creation. Once again, the lyrics start on one train of thought before shifting to an apparently entirely different idea. The song begins with the almost laughable lines, "Seemingly an environmental tribute, it has lines like, "I traveled to the North/Where aurora lights the dawn/Danced among the Eskimos/And joined the whales in song." Later it shifts over to a melodramatically sung plea for understanding from a woman who apparently doesn't realize the protagonist is head over heels for her. A couple of interesting philosophical lyrical thoughts are lost in all the schmaltz.

"Ice Age's" inconsistency is the biggest problem I have with the band and "The Great Divide. They have solid musical ideas, and the technical ability to pull them off, but they also have this frustrating tendency of writing seemingly unfocused lyrics, and weak, even cliché filled arrangements. Despite this tendency, there's enough solid material on "The Great Divide," beginning with its "hunchback crossing a bridge of skulls" cover art, for it to be worth picking up by progressive rock/borderline metal fans.