| CD REVIEW Silent Memorial |
 |
|
Band: Silent Memorial Switzerland, early 1990s: a couple of friends (among which guitarist Christoph Baertschi) start a covers band under the monicker of Squadron 41. After a couple of years, they get rid of their singer, chang their name to and try out more challenging musical paths, beginning to write their own material in the Prog metal vein, a style which is not so evident in the otherwize somewhat conservative Swiss music scene! In 1996, Baertschi, bassist Michael Halbach, and drummer Jurg Friedli encounter keyboardist Chris Haenggi, and find in him the missing link they needed to take a further step in their portrayed musical visions. Changing their name to the current one, the boys make a 3-track demo, and start looking out for a decent singer and record label. Not finding what they needed in an immediate proximity as far as the singer is concerned, the band then hires the talented Swedish singer Thomas Vikstrom (whom had at that point already proven his worth in Brazen Abbott and Candlemass) as a temporary measure. This ensured the band a deal with Toshiba EMI, with the disadvantage that their Cosmic Handball album would only be distributed in Asia! Right after the 1998 release of their album, Halbach and Friedli are fired, meaning only the two core members were left (Vikstrom was just a hired gun for the recordings, remember!?). Soon after, the twosome also lost their lust, and decided to take a musical break. But not for long, because the new milenium has but justly started when the two were back together to compose new tracks and keep in practice. Ater a while they started work on their own recordings studio, and even wanted to re-start the band, but found it very difficult to find the required musicians. In 2005 the guys finally achieve to recruit drummer Diego Rapacchietti. A versatile and experienced skinsman who’d already enjoyed an international career…who’d cutt his teeth playing with such diverse acts as Zerop, Paganini, Swiss Blue Authority, Jess Montini, and Verturia…and was therefore exactly what Chris and Christoph were looking for in order to take SM a step further! So Diego recorded the drum parts for the album, but it would take the guys another year to find in Cloudscape’s singer/ keyboardist Micke Andersson (whose history grew to includes tenures/ guest appearances with Alysson Avenue, Mountain Of Power, Planet Alliance, Audiovision’s 2005 album The Calling, and most recently also Full Force) the man suitable to bring the high standard of vocals they were looking for. In between, they invited bassist Sugar Burns (no info as to what his antecedents are) to contribute to the recordings…later extending that to an offer to join the band (which he accepted). Andersson recorded his vocals at Roastinghouse in Sweden in early 2006 and, while the band leaders were negociating a management deal with Roastinghouse in late 2006, Pontus Lindmark also started the mixing of the album there. To find a label for the album, which was finished early 2007, prooved itselff to be more troublesome, but after breaking their management deal earlier in 2008, the band finally came in contact with Limb Music Products. The parties being soul-mates, they soon came to an understanding…which has this album release as a first result! At the centre of the album is it’s 22-minutes title track, which goes through several mood changes (it also has a near 9-minute instrumental mid section which includes a short rip-off of the main theme to all James Bond movies), which prevents the listener from getting weary by the track’s length! The guitar is strong, and of the “Modern” sound type. The keyboards are lavish, but complementing rather than coming to the fore in favourr of the guitar. In other words, the core members of the band have a perfect understanding, and do not allow to let complexity rule over melody, or vice versa! On top of everything, the singer sounds really cool, with a slightly raspy but clear and strong voice. Check out the full-length version of “Human Mind”,plussamplesof “Fear”, “Differences” and the title track (twó samples, by the way: one taken at the opening of the song, the other from the instrumental passage) at myspace.com/silentmemorial! I’m sure you’ll agree that while you’re caught by the melodic aspect of the music, it’s the underlaying “complexity” that’ll keep you hanging on! End conclusion: a truly nice Prog Metal album with elements from Power Metal and Symphonic (I’m sure those moments are what attracted Limb in the first place). Not yet year-list material to me personally, but you’re free (as usual) to feel differently about that! 90/100 Tony. |