Secret Sphere + Dragonforce + Samael with female vocals
Matt Stoessel | Tolland, CT USA | 07/05/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I heard somewhere that fans of Stratovarius and Nightwish would love this. I do love those 2 bands, but I don't know where the relationship comes from. For general information about the album, there are 10 songs: 8 regular legnth songs, an intro, and what I call a "mid-tro" for track 8. If it matters to people, the longest song doesn't reach 7 minutes. The whole album is 42 and a half minutes. 2002 release and in one of those flap-cases like Follow the Reaper. Okay, now that that's out of the way, I'll start talking about the sound. It is overall very atmospheric, so those who like Nightwish's mid-tempo songs (Deep Silent Complete, Everdream, Astral Romance, etc.) would love the sounds. I do not mean the type of atmospheric you hear in Heavenly or Lost Horizon - it's a bit different type of atmospheric, somewhat like Children of Bodom's new CD, "Hate Crew Deathroll". The keyboards in this almost remind me of Tristania, but in a different way. I say that Secret Sphere replaces Stratovarius in saying who Beholder is like because of the average speed and something about the bass in the songs. I also sense Dragonforce's style coming from their speed. Where Samael comes in isn't to do with the black vocals. Some of their strange sounds that makes Samael Samael is what Beholder does. Alright, about the female vocals. This is not opera and you only hear Leeana's (think that's how you spell it) about 30% of the time. She never sings a whole song. Actually, I believe every song is the exact pattern where the guy sings a bunch, then she sings. Also, you're probably wondering who the guy sounds like, right? I've been having trouble figuring this out for myself, so I just put the CD in. Imagine a darker Sonata Artica's vocalist, but not a grunt. I can't really compare it well to anything. Actually, now that I think about it harder, the guy sounds a bit like what you hear in Moonspell's type of metal. Overall, everything this band does is amazing and the production of the album is amazing. I'm not sure what all of you guys call a concept album, so I won't use that term. It SEEMS to me that the whole album is a story, but I could be wrong. You know, I own around 110 metal albums (true metal, of course) ranging from progressive rock (like Spock's Beard) to black metal (like Old Man's Child). I know how to compare music. If you can find a copy of this, I stongly recommend it as an addition to any melodic metal, power metal, or doom metal collection! Before you leave this page, do please say if my review helped you or not. Thanks!"
Track Listings (10) - Disc #1