|
Review:
|
Say bonjour to the début album by this Austrian quartet
featuring the dual vocal attack of Albert “Speedy” Gruber,
who reminds me of Michael Stipe, and the beautiful Martina
Penzenauer with her rich, powerful, soulful, and very versatile
voice, with music by bassist Martin “Maze” Moser and guitarist
Dominik Sebastian. They produce unique symphonic metal with
elements of gothic, prog, melodic, classic, soft and alternative
rock/metal, what they concisely call Prothic Metal. I could
say that this bit sounds like Within Temptation, that like
Evanescence, that like Ayreon, that like Asia, that like
America, etc. etc. etc. but the review would end up 10 pages
long. This is a band that refuses to follow a formula, so
expect anything and everything - lovely piano, delicate
acoustic picking, terrific guitar solos in a multiplicity
of styles, superb instrumental passages, piledriver riffs,
soaring refrains, catchy hooks, deep emotionally charged
lyrics, children's choirs, rich orchestrations, etc. etc.
etc. But remarkably it all fits seamlessly together. When
reviewing I put a star by the outstanding tracks, I ended
up with a star by every song, my jaw was sore from hitting
the floor. They range from the powerful 'I Search For Your
Hand', to the anthemic 'Gone' (video on Female Voices blog),
to the catchy 'Worlds Collapse', to the moving acoustic
'The Promise', to the more prog 'Love is Suicide' (co sung
by Martin), to the sensational ballad 'Farewell', and the
last track 'Scargod' is the best song that REM have never
recorded. Scargod, by the way, was the original name of
the band. Strangely the first track 'Cold' has some Cookie
Monster by Robert Bogner (In Slumber/Olemus), a bit worrying
for an anti growler, but thankfully it never reappears.
Robert's band mate Wolfgang Rothbauer also contributes his
deep dark gothic tones to the epic 'Lust'. Production is
excellent, and it hasn't been over polished so you still
have all the dynamics and oomph. This is like a compendium
of all my favourite music packed into 60 minutes of pure
listening pleasure, this is so far up my symphonic, prog
and classic rock/metal street it's sitting with it's feet
up watching my telly. Their Myspace is at http://www.myspace.com/shadowsgreyband
and it's available from all the usual places, a jaw dropping
10 out of 10.
|
