Search - Various Artists, Evensong :: Evensong: A Vampire Rock Opera

Dramatic composition but poor singing.

Rick Douglas Janssen | Lake Zurich, IL USA | 01/25/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"As their website states, Evensong is a vimpire rock opera written by Thomas Kugler, which tells the story of Jonathan and Dawn, star-crossed lovers in colonial New England who are placed under a deadly curse by Legion (The Devil). Through Legion's treachery, Jonathan becomes the vampire Evensong, whose human nature struggles against his vampiric compulsion to bring Dawn into his undead realm.The most noticeable asset of this conception is the score. The Overture is very haunting and well written. The performance on the electric guitars was very good and I can only imagine how chilling and moving this piece could be if fully orchestrated, but still maintaining the electric guitars.The main detraction from the quality of the work is the vocal content. As a whole the lyrics are fine, but they tend to be repetitive and contrived at times. But the real blow to the quality of this work is the singing. Thomas Kugler sings the lead role of Evensong/Jonathon. While I applaud his talent as a composer I believe his singing voice to be lacking. It is obvious his strengths reside in his composition skill. The one singing talent that lends herself to this work is Shea Castleman, who plays the character of Dawn/Dawn's Ghost. The quality of her voice is very good and with a little more direction she could be quite a vocalist.For those who don't place too much emphasis on vocal quality this is a CD to listen to. Personally, I love the Overture and the other instrumental pieces and will continue listening to them. I can't help but wonder how good this CD could have been with a little more production value and better singing quality. I do look forward to listening to future works by Thomas Kugler and am sure his composition quality will only improve with time."