Music
Press
There are still pockets of bands out there who sail against the pop-cultural winds, some misguided but happy, others waiting patiently for the wind to change. On face, Lawrence, Mass.’s Amneja Vu are a prime example of right sound/wrong time, but their prog/hard-rock isn’t so hopelessly ensconced in a self-destructive Darwin-dissing bubble that they’d be best advised to pack it in. On one hand, they could be rubber-stamped as a frivolous side project intended to provide an outlet for the two principals’ Dream Theater and Metallica worship, not distantly akin to Phoenix undergrounders Sammus Theory. But AV have it over Sammus in that it’s one thing to have a Queensryche-like idea of existential whatever-ness in one’s head and quite another to funnel it effectively onto a record. These guys have a little more Mars Volta/Minus the Bear studying to do if they want to compete in the Bigs, but their riffing is firmly in place, thus the hard part’s already done. A bit more punkish/introspective sentiment — and they’re not clueless local-jokel hair-metal twits to begin with, and I’m not just being a creampuff local-jokel reviewer when I say that — will put them where they want to be. B- — Eric W. Saeger
- The Hippo Press
Boston based Amneja Vu is a prog-rock hybrid featuring drummer extraordinaire Marc Sherman who also spends time in the band Daniel Bon & The Future Ghosts (see my review on this site). Mr. Bon himself handled the mixing here and did a good job capturing the interesting and unique sound of Amneja Vu and not only is Marc Sherman competent behind the kit, he also handles the vocals like a pro. I preferred the edgier tracks like Searching Black Holes, The Courtship Of An Answer, The Rush Of Your Life and Abort whose vocal melody is reminiscent of Type-O-Negative. If you dig stuff like Porcupine Tree, I think you'll appreciate what Amneja Vu have to offer on The Factory. - East Coast Romper
I’ll admit I used to be a fan of this brand of prog pomp. But it’s been many a year since I’ve cracked out my copy of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. Now, if that is still your favorite album, you might as well pick this up. And even if you hate prog like poison, the lush arrangements of “Can’t Die in a Dream” and “The Answer?” are melodically gorgeous. But bear in mind that “The Factory” is a genuine throwback: an ambitious prog-rock concept album with all the attendant pomp and circumstance. Meaning that nearly every riff that might, in a better world, have revealed and unfolded its melodic subtleties with a more restrained approach is, instead, blown up to poster size and used to bludgeon us over the head in a sort of sonic assault. - The Noise
Discography
Amneja Vu presents The Factory (2007)
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Bio
We are Marc Sherman, Dan Milone, Jeff Pongonis and Rob Nemetz - collectively known as Amneja Vu. Coming from different musical backgrounds as well as different parts of the state of Massachusetts, Amneja Vu is something that was born out of our involvement in the Boston-based band Pennyred. The 2005 release of Pennyred’s CD “The Citystate Falls” saw us playing all over New England, as well as the MidPoint Music Conference in Cincinnati and John Hopkins University in Maryland. What started out as a “side project," Amneja Vu quickly turned full-time. We felt a desire to write and record more progressive rock music, in the vein of Dream Theater, Yes, Queensryche, the Mars Volta, King Crimson, and Rush, among others. This has always been our passion, to be able to put forth rock music with an edge, and with something that will leave the listener hearing something new each time. In August of 2007, we released our debut CD "Amneja Vu presents The Factory". "The Factory" is a grand concept album, hoping to follow in the footsteps of greats such as "The Wall", "Operation: Mindcrime" and "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway". This journey was written and recorded throughout 2006 and early 2007, and it's story is as follows...
“Attention all employees! There will be a mandatory meeting in the distribution center in ten minutes! ALL MUST ATTEND!”
What follows is a story within a story. A world inside a body. A reason, a purpose, an answer! We follow the breakdown of a man; a sudden, unexplainable breakdown. Once vibrant and full of life, he is now void of all the above – on the outside. He lays in a hospital bed all day, as visitors come and go. No one can seem to figure out why this has happened. His doctors are stumped! If we look a little closer though, deep down inside, we see clearly!
The factory which controls this human being is run by one man. Day after day, he has come to work and punched the clock. Day after day, he and his loyal employees keep things running properly. Things run without a hitch. Until one day, the owner decides he has grown tired of the 9-5 lifestyle, and must see what is outside the walls of his factory. Year after year of the “same old” has made him tired. There MUST be something more than this. He decides that on Monday morning, he will inform his employees of his decision to close shop. Not an easy decision, but one that he feels must be done.
And so it begins! What seems like a normal day to a factory full of hard workers will turn out to be anything but that. An interruption in their work day informs them of a meeting that will be taking place in ten minutes in the distribution center – the heart of it all. But what for? Why the sudden announcement? Judging by the tone of the announcement, it sounds like something important. But what?
Upon informing them of his decision, his employees don’t take the news very well. They feel he is being selfish, shallow, and unfair to them. They plead with him to not go forward with his plans, but he sympathetically tells them that it must be done. Furious, his employees protest! But at this point, the owner is on his way back to his office to clean it out. Upon entry, he stumbles upon a file cabinet he has never noticed before. Curious, he opens it!
What has happened? Where is he? This world is not familiar! The cabinet has thrown our friend into some sort of otherworld, some alternate reality of sorts. Discoveries upon discoveries, dreams like never before, answers that have been sought for thousands of years! Everything makes sense now! Everything is clear! How did he get here, and how did he come to these conclusions? Regardless of how, he is ecstatic!! His life has a purpose again. He realizes that he must share this information with his friends, his employees. He’s made a mistake, and must correct it. The factory shall rise again! But he must hurry, for time is short.
Shorter than he had expected, apparently. How could they do this to him? This is HIS place! Then it hits him; he has done this to himself. He not been betrayed, he HAS betrayed. Locked out of his own life, and the life he has controlled all these years. The answers sometimes aren’t so kind.
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