The biggest pitfall inherent in progressive rock or progressive
metal is that after a while, it all starts sounding the same.
(The
corollary is that it all starts sounding like someone else.
One band I didn’t review earlier last year was immediately
classified as “Styx and Rush have a really bad car accident”.)
Thankfully for music reviewers and consumers alike, some
bands transcend the copycat nature of the genre, don’t send
in the
clones, and come up with something of their own. In the case
of
Shadow Gallery’s new release,
Legacy, it’s not only something
unique; it’s something beautiful.
Beautiful? Describing metal? Well, yes, actually.
Legacy is a
brilliant, elegant, musically complex, melodic work, worthy
of a band many call one of the founders of the prog-metal genre.
(Shadow Gallery was the second band ever signed to Magna Carta, and
has been recording since 1993.) This is the genre at its best,
plain and simple, and if you like this sort of thing at all you
should probably just click on the CDNOW link now and get it over
with.
For those of you who need more convincing, let’s talk voices.
Mike Baker is so far ahead of most screeching
hair-band-reject metal vocalists that he could beat them with one
vocal cord tied behind his back. He’s expressive, he’s flexible,
and you can understand what he’s saying. (Bonus points for those of
us who still consider lyrics half of songs.)
Legacy features soaring, textured harmonies, clear and
transcendent, and then can turn around and smack a serving of
gritty, angry background vocals on your musical plate. Shadow
Gallery has proved themselves to be jack of all trades and masters
of most on
Legacy.
The guitar work is flawless, ranging from a biting snarl to
clear
and undistorted melody, and the dual playing of Brendt Allman
and
Gary Wehrkamp (hereafter known as The Guy Who Apparently
Plays Everything; he’s credited with guitars, keyboards, bass, and
vocals) creates interweaving lines that blow you away with their
delicacy and complexity. Carl Cadden-James’ bass playing provides a
steady thrum around which to weave the melodic elements, and Joe
Nevolo’s drums serve the same purpose perfectly. Production is
clean and uncomplicated, though there’s occasional fun effects
thrown in that catch your attention just long enough to
disappear.
As for tracks, deal with it; everything’s good. However, I have
to
give special notice to the central three tracks on the CD,
“Colors”,
“Society Of The Mind”, and “Legacy”. They are utterly
different, each unique; “Colors” is all harmony and power ballad,
“Society” sounds like they were listening to Queensryche’s
Operation: Mindcrime album one day and decided to do them
one better, and “Legacy” is straight grinding prog-metal. All three
are brilliant.
I’m starting to sound redundant, I know. But this is good stuff.
Go. Now. Strike a blow against boring music, and get yourself
a copy of
Legacy.
