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CD REVIEW Various Artists: TSM/SLW Promotions special June 2010, #2: Griffen - Hellcircles - Pictorial - Soniq Theater - Stairway |
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TSM/SLW Promotion Agency special June 2010, #2: Griffen (Scandinavia), Hellcircles (Italy), Pictorial Wand (Norway), Soniq Theater (Germany), Stairway (UK) As promised, I didn’t take long getting into a next TSM/SLW special, but I hàd to take some hard decisions. In order to be able to get back to the next special as soon as possible (I have another 5-band special lined up and waiting to be reviewed – that’s how crazy things are, these days), I was gonna have to make part of the job as short a possible (I usually spend 60 to 80 minutes on the Internet researching a band, then charting all pertinent info on an individual file as a means of help with the review), without loosing my intergrity towards the bands. As things are, the bands usually send us a good info sheet along with the promo copies of their material. So, I thought, let’s give you the info comprised there, and then swiftly check what info on the internet is available (own website, MySpace page) and in need for inclusion in the review. I know, it’s a big deviation from my normally in-depth work ethics, but I simply HAVE to start doing things this way, if I wanna get through the enourmous pile of work ahead of me! Still, you know me, I’m frequently gonna re-work stuff to give things a better flow, incorporating info my way as I go along (I hate copy-pasting jobs from others, so I’m certainly not gonna start doing things that way myself!). -------------------------------------------- Scandinavian band Griffen (members hail from Sweden and Finland) was founded in 2006 by two former members of Torch (lead guitarist Tomi Peltonen, also active in Madigan; drummer Kristian Huotari, also active in SCAAR) and other Swedish bands (from Metalorgy, there’s lead singer Jörgen Söderblom, formerly of 32GO; also from that band, and formerly of Madigan, there’s rhythm guitarist Stefan Törnblom – which already interconnects the 4 already mentioned, with bassist/ backing vocalist Harri Touvila being the “outstander”, if you can call it that way, ex-Pink Panther and still active with Vita Vatten and Ari Haatainen). Having a long individual musical background, these five guys felt the need to bring back a Melodic Heavy Rock remeniscent of the ‘80s. On their own effort, they released two demo-EPs which were received warmly by both music fans and press. In fact, in a review of 2009 demo Linked In Eternity, the journalist for dangerdog.com felt it was hard to believe the band hadn’t signed a major deal yet. Well, a major label deal, no less? I suppose that reviewer was still a little green behind the ears, because to get a major label deal these days…?!!! Anyway, things were finally looking on the up for Griffen (notice how clever the band has been in avoiding possible law suits from bands named Griffin? More explanations abouth the bandname on the band’s MySpace page), because in later in 2009 they not only signed a deal with Italian label Stealheart Records, recorded their debut full-length (with a great mixing job done by Pelle Saether and mastering by Göran Finnberg @ Goteborg’s The Mastering Room to bring out the best of their work to the fore), and also saw it released! In their own words, Griffen’s music is “…influenced by some of the classic names of the genre such as R.J. Dio…” (rests in peace now) “…, Iron Maiden, and Whitesnake, and is in fact not far from the musical offerings that artists like Jorn Lande and Jeff Scott Soto brought to the Hard Rock/ Metal fans during these last years,” and why…that’s a description I certainly can live with! Overall the band is perhaps a bit on the heavier side than these last two mentioned artists, but that also sets ‘em apart (and that’s a good thing). Something they miss perhaps, is stand-out songs. The listener finds himself intrigued by the album’s opening songs “Rise And Fall” and “I Don’t Really Know”, even shortly mesmerized by the “Oriental” touch to the intro of the ensuing “Linked In Eternity”, which is overall of a somewhat slower pace, but after that (s)he’ll find out the rest of the material is pretty much all more of the same. And taken separatedly in packages of 3-4 songs things might work out well enough, but with 12 tracks and a total length of just over 56 minutes, one finds him/herself wanting for the end of the album in the middle. Well, that’s a personal feel of course, because somehow I would’ve wanted a ballad or alternally a faster track to break the pace…but of course this is gonna be a feast for anyone who can bear an almost constant tempo for that long. In honesty I have to admit that each and every song is really well arranged and executed: nice interactions between the lead-heavy lead and rhythm guitars (with an ever so slight progressive touch, you know), solid rhythm section, and the singer has a real good voice of mid-high pitch (perhaps he doesn’t make enough use of the deeper, darker side of his voice…because that too could bring more variety, you know). At any rate, there’s 4 delicious tracks (just the right amount to keep you interested in listening to ‘em all) at myspace.com/griffen (to which you’re re-directed when logging onto the band’s own “website”, (www.) griffen.se). Proceed to buying the album at your own leasure! 88/100 -------------------------------------------- Italian outfit HellCircles were in November 2008 from an idea of singer/ keyboardist Marco Parisi and guitarist Roberto Forna, soon followed by the joining of guitarist/ backing singer Fabio Pedrali and drummer Davide Ravara, the four having known each other for a long time in different constellations in other bands before. In early 2009 the line-upwas completed with the recruitement of bassist Danilo Arisi, and only a few months later, in May, the band recorded their debut EP Stillness at Loria (Trevino) based New Sin Studio with Luigi Stefani behind the knobs to also mix and master the material in a co-production with the band. The idea mentioned above? To create a style that merges the main influences of each of the four members. Hum? I know, just how “original” is that, eh!? I mean, that’s usually how empassioned musicians go about creating their music, isn’t it? Only “professional” musicians would go into a certain style for the bucks, in spite of their own musical preferences! Well, when push comes to shove, the band itself describes their music as “a mix of elaborate and kicking rhythmics and melodies, fast tempos and melodic yet aggressive vocals.” Well, as the band posted all of the demo’s 5 tracks (album opener title track is an atmospheric “instrumental” including piano, some ambient keyboard background sounds, and added melodic/ etheric guitar after the “spoken word” sentence halfway through – is the track in essence an intro to the ensuing “Let Us Unite”, to which it seemlessly progresses, or is it to be seen as an individual track nevertheless, I have no way of knowing) on their MySpace page, you’ll be able to check these following opinions of mine while listening to the songs, right? Personally, I’ve found the first two songs, “Let Us Unite” and “The Damage Done” to be of a somewhat Speedy quality, with both the rhythm section and guitars goin’ at fairly high pace…good thing there’s a sollo includes in each song. “The Damage Done” has the nice feature of (one of) the backing singer(s?) using an occasional grave voice (not exactly what I’d write home about, but as a means to bring ssome variation in the vocal section it is much appreciated). The two other tracks on the album, “Turn back Time” (again some grave backing vocals, but not in the same proportions as in the preceeding track)and “Rise Again”, are of a slightly calmer pace, in fact the latter even has some “semi-acoustic” guitar passages! For the sake of variety, the band might’ve mixed up their faster and calmer songs a bit more, but as things stand HellCircles certainly brought a nice debut EP here…at least musically! I mean, these are definitely musicians with the experience in songwriting and playing execution to bring góód tunes! You heard a negativity there? Well, II was llistening to the album before checking out the info, and even at a first listen I was thinking, “Oh my, what an awfully heady high pitch that singer has…Italian, most probably?”…which brings us to what, in my personal opinion (because obviously there’s already been others who think differently – proof of which can be found in the blogs at myspace.com/hellcircles), is the band’s weak point: their constantly high-pitched lead singer! Now I’ve listened to the EP in several ways (with headphones, on the big stereo, on the high-quality pc audio system), but each time the high pitch came through to excess! Not a good thing in my book, you know. Below rating is accodingly “low”! 80/100 -------------------------------------------- From the booklet: “Four years, two albums and two “Best Album” nominations in Prog Awards, together with great critics throughout Europe and USA. That’s the story so far.” The “new” album (after all it’s been out for over a year) uses 4 lead singers, each having a different role in a story about how former generations leave behind an “inheritance” for the next, and how they in turn try to deal with things. We find different elements of mankind [love, oride, hope and reason – which are the 4 roles, expressed by two male (Tore Christer Storlid & Petter Selliseth giving “body” to Hope and Pride) and two female (Gry Tronslien & Julie Christensen as Love and Reason) singers] pulling in the struggle for its own sake and beliefs and the fulfillment of what is expected from the former generations. The circle ends with father and son confronting each other on the battlefield. Musically, things are a perhaps a bit less on the Symphonic side this time around. At myspace.com/picwand, I found an almost perfect description, hailing from a review credited to “Are U On Something”, from which I’d like to give you the following passage: “…The sound ranges from the Classic Rock heavieness of Queensrÿche to the atmospheric artistry of Pink Floyd, with a little Jethro Tull Folk, ELP and Kansas-like Classic Rock, and traditional classical influences thrown in for good measure…”. Of course, that’s just one guy’s opinion, but it corroborates quite nicely what I heard in the 7 tracks the album counts (for a delectable near-68 minutes’ worth of listening pleasure). At the Myspace page, you’ll find samples of 6 tracks on the album posted alongside 2 full-length tracks off the debut. At the band’s own website (www.) pictorialwand.com, you’ll find a music player posted in the right corner of the home page, but I’m not sure if that one will give you full-length versions of the songs. Check it out at own perril, the danger being that you’ll contact Sorum rightaway to order the album. Why isn’t this project signed to a decent specialist Prog label yet? 98/100 Band : Soniq Theater Soniq Theater is the solo Progressive Rock outing of stylistically rather versatile German keyboardist Alfred Mueller. Born in 1962, he’s a seasoned musician, and having studied organ from age 12 and acquired his first synth at the age of 17, he started playing in his first band, Rock ‘n’ Roll/ Artrock act Decay Of Innocence, as soon as the year after. In 1981 he broadened his musical horizons, playing in Jazz Fusion band Sunset. With the first act broken up in 1982 and the second the year after, Alfred enters the line-up of ArtRock act Utopia (would be renamed to On Function) from 1983 to 1985, and in 1984 steps innto 2 other bands, namely the different-styled Baumstumpf (deceasedd the same year) and Quenya (an ArtRock band that lasted until 1986). From 1986 to 1998, Alfred would list all of his solo projects under the name of Red Elf, but meanwhile he was still working with bands as well, starting with Emerald (ArtRock band which lasted from 1987 to 1989 and which was a prelude to Rachel’s Birthday – see later). Rock covers band Fischer X came next, lasting from 1990 to 1991, and in 1992 Alfred accompanied Folk musician Jörg Weigand and his outfit on tours. But in 1991 the musicians from Emerald decided to make a new go at things as Rachel’s Birthday, this time going for a Prog Rock direction. The outfit won the German Headliner Rock contest in 1992 and would eventually release its one and only full-length album An Invitation To Rachel’s Birthday in 1996, only to fold the year after. During 1995 Alfred also played with Funk/ Soul Jazz outfit Timeless. In 1998, Alfred was handed the “First Class” award by the Preston University for his compositions. And in 1999 he renamed his solo outings to Soniq Theater, self-releasing his debut album under the new monicker in 2000. Most probably, Alfred then took some time to build up his fanbase, also search the Internet for appropriate ways of promoting his solo project, because sophomore album A Second Action took until 2002 to arrive. After that he apparently found his niche, because albums were pouring out of his creative mind on a yearly basis, sprouting 2003’s The Third Eye, 2004’s This Mortal Coil, 2005’s Pandromania, 2006’s Enchanted, 2007’s Seventh Heaven, 2008’s Life Seeker, 2009’s Vision Quest, and fiinally his tenth album, this year’s Unknown Realities. At (www.) soniqtheater.com, you’ll find Alfred citing among his influences a whole bunch of Prog Rock acts from the ‘70s up, to even a couple of Prog Metal bands, adding to that a couple of electronic outfits and (unnamed) symphonies and baroque Classical music. One things you have to know about ST, is that àll of the music comprised on the albums is generated electronically, from the riffed guitar to the guitar solo, to the bass and drums, and even the horns and the stallion in “Black Mustang”. Now I don’t know in how far he’s mixed his past experiences in his previous solo albums under the ST monicker, but on Unknown Realities Alfred definitely occasionally falls back on other influences picked up when he was in the Jazz-geared outfits listed above. It definitely gives the material a variety in styles…although, whom was it again said that àny incorporation into basic Rock would allow it to be “Progressive”, as seen from what was done before? Ah well, them was far easier days at any rate! Counting 11 instrumental tracks in total, the album opens with three uplifting tracks starting with the keyboard-only “Longing For Freedom” (remeniscent of ELP), finds the ensuing “Revealing A Dream” incorporating the use of sparce heavy guitar riffs, and during “Revolution Hymn” the instrument’s sound (the guitar, that is) is emulated to the point of even including a classy lead and solo guitar passages (think Dream Theater and the likes). For the calmer “Cosmic Angel” (you might even say it has some Ambient feel, at least up to a point) Alfred again reverts to the keyboard-only mode, this time with some soft-electronics to it (think Tangerine Dream, Vangelis, Schulze). Back to a more uplifting pace, “Black Mustang” get added energy from faked heavy riff guitar, but with the ensuing “Pavillon” there’s a complete stylistic genre overhaul. With a definite Baroque feel (clavicord keyboards) the track gets added (neo) classical touches witth the incorporation of the sounds from…it it oboe?…and flute, plus classical percussion. Another stylistic overhaul comes with “The Nitty Gritty” which, through inclusion of horns, falls into the (guitar-driven) Jazz Fusion corner of the musical spectrum. The overall calmer “Call Of The Unknown” finds us reverting to a soft Prog Pop with Ambient undertones. The “guitar” played here is the basic instrument (recurring melody) over which a “trumpet” and some synth diddies work as lead and solo instruments. Next, the slightly freakish Synth Pop tonalities of “Roll The Dice” bring a new uplifting moment in the album, but to close the album Alfred chose for the relatively calmer “Organic Food” and “Slipping Into The Future”, tracks that fall into the Synth Prog category, both with a nice layered structure and a driving bass “guitar” pushing the melodies to fruition. As Alfred says it himself, Soniq Theater may be appreciated by “…all open-minded Progressive Rock fans…” and “…by “normal people” with some musical education”, but I’m afraid he’s gonna make little fans outside of those, after all somewhat restricted, small groups of people! You see, as the track-list on Unknown Realities stands, the occasional listener will find himself thrown from the uplifting first part of the album towards the more introvert second part of the album, and I’m afraid many a “novice” (or one-track minded listener…even in the Prog world those exist, you know) might hook off after a first listen! Oh, and before I forget: àll tracks off the album ànd of the previous ones can be listened to at Alfred’s own website (www.) soniqtheater.de, so whomm needs a reference to MySpace then? In my mind, the album would’ve benefitted enormously from a more mixed-up track-list. Mind you, I don’t mind about the moodswing personally, because I happen to count myselff among bóth types of music fans listed above (except perhaps that in my case the “edication” bit should read “…and then some”, it going back some 40 years and including anything that’s ever been unleashed upon mankind, stylistically speaking). 90/100 -------------------------------------------- Originally a 4-piece consisting of lead singer/ guitarist Graeme Leslie, lead guitarist/ backing vocalist Peter Jennens, bassist/ backing vocalist Robert Jennens, and drummer Andrew Edwards, the formation of this Midlands (apparently Warwickshire) based British Traditional Hard Rock/ Metal band is somewhat uncertain (no info found), but already in 1991 they had a split release (other band unknown to yours truly – sure, I coul’ve found out, I guess, but possibly only after extensive extra research…and as mentioned above that is something I’d like to cut some time off from) titled White Metal Wariors/ Last Ship Home. The band’s debut full-length came with 1993’s No Rest, No Mercy, followed 6 (yes, six!) years later by sophomore album Bleeding Heart. In the new millenium the band only had three full-length releases so far, starting with 2002’s On Hallowed Ground. In 2006, the album The Other Side Of Midnight was preceded by the single No Mercy, and with Interregnum the band is at its 5th full-length. Somewhere in between, the band “lost” its bassist, and for practical reasons that role was taken over by Leslie (on the album he still plays rhythm guitar though). Notable fact: for the artwork on this album the band worked with Rodney Matthews (check album covers by Magnum, Seventh Angel, and Asia, amongst others) again, because they’d alreads worked with him on their debut full-length. If you’ll believe the band’s own promo talk, (sic) “…Here you have a modern classic Hard Rock album that never ceases to please, combining the brilliance of Iron Maiden with the vocal mastery of Queen and sees the band evolving with every note, every song and every lyric…Interregnum is an unapologetically anthemic Hard Rock album; here, Stairway has matched and maybe surpassed their highly successful 2006 album The Other Side Of Midnight…”. Some very self-indulgent praise indeed, in fact partially grasped a bit high! I mean, none of the bands mentioned are in any danger at all to be supplanted…at least not by Stairway! You see, while Stairway’s music can indeed be seen as an extention of the better type of slightly progressive NWoBHM, and although the musicians are certainly not unexperienced, they’re far from reaching the level of guitar and bass play as we know it from Maiden (personally, I’d rather put them in the Saxon category, musically speaking), and while the guys certainly bring a nice lead/ backing vocal, they’re far from Queen’s close-harmonic vocal display. In fact, it was lucky (for the band) I had some time on my hands during a paleolontological dig (my other passion besides music) to listen to the album a couple of times (interrupted with listening sessions of other albums to be reviewed), because at first the weird high pitch and somewhat forced vocal style had somewhat thrown me off (I cannot believe some cited music journalist even heard a Dickinson remeniscence here)! And even now I feel the (lead) vocals are somewhat unvaried throughout the complete album. How the guys manage to perform this music on stage (if indeed they do) as a trio without faking some things…? I mean, there’s plenty of moments where you hear two guitars ànd a bass, and there’s also occasional moments where you’ll hear an additional keyboard line. Most of the time, the songs are brought at a fair pace, and it’s only in the balladesque opening of “Born To Die” and the album’s outro instrumental “Born To Die – Epitaph”, that the band show a more “vulnerable” side of themselves. I was personally fond of the song “Fear & Lies”, where during two passages you get the backing vocals done in a counter-rhythm that is simply delectable (why indeed always use the same melody lines in lead and backing vocals, eh?). At myspace.com/stairway (couldn’t log onto the band’s own website from my network pc) no less than 5 of the 11 tracks on the album (total length just under 48 minutes), including “What Lies Within”, which doés have a bit of an Iron Maiden touch in the bass play. There’s also 5 more songs off other releases to check out. Enough material for you, dear reader, to make out for yourself whether you like what Stairway serves, or not. Because at the end of day, it’s not my personal feelings about any band’s music which count, but how yoù can appreciate it! Oops, almost forgot to mention: Stairway being so rooted in ‘80s music, they also got around to having 300 copies of the album printed on vinyl. If you’re lucky (because copies were leaving fast already in April) you can still get yourself one! 82/100 -------------------------------------------- Tony. |
