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Review:
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Violet Sun is a brand new project by former Thy Majestie’s
vocalist Dario Grillo and lovely singer Alessandra Amata.
Although Thy Majestie is a symphonic power metal band in
the mould of fellow Italians Rhapsody, Violet Sun is a totally
different proposition, and as well as singing Dario plays
all the instruments bar drums, played by Alex Grillo, and
piano by Alessandra. Their basic template reminds me of
a more powerful version of the melodic metal Kiske Somerville
album both musically and vocally but with added Delain,
Kamelot and Avantasia, exemplified by ‘Dust in the Wind’,
‘Inside Out’ and ‘Where Is My Way Home’. Upon this framework
songs like ‘When the Lights Go Down’ and ‘My Flame Still
Burns’ add a little more Dream Theatre prog, ‘Cross the
Line’ a touch of Nightwish symphonic, ‘Falling in Love’
some Heart AOR complete with sax solo, the galloping ‘Pray
on the Grave’ a spot of Ayreon weirdness, ‘Break Your Chains’
a soupcon of jazz with some more sax, and the epic ‘Synthetic
Pleasure’ a hint of the souq. Interesting question, when
was the last time you heard sax on a metal song? I’m stumped.
It is all superbly produced, performed and sung with great
synths and an unusual lightning fast staccato rhythm guitar
sound and style that gives the music real oomph whilst giving
the rest of the instruments space to breathe, it brings
to mind someone like Lanvall of Edenbridge. The only minor
quibble is that some songs are slightly stretched out, a
spot of judicious pruning wouldn’t go amiss, and occasionally
they over egg the pudding, for example ‘Falling in Love’
could have been shortened without the unnecessary prog bit
to let the song shine. If you like melodic and/or melodic
prog metal then you will thoroughly enjoy this wonderful
album, more info can be found at http://www.myspace.com/violetsunofficial
, a most excellent 9 out of 10.
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