I sometimes get the feeling that all European metal is the same
\n– something which is borne out with each passing disc I get in the
\nmail which I listen to. Oh, sure, there is the occasional disc
\nwhich breaks the mold, and I’d like to think I’m quick to admit
\nwhen this is the case.<\/p>\n
Kenziner, featuring Finnish guitarist\/bassist\/keyboardist Jarno
\nKeskinen, regrettably falls under this category. Their sophomore
\nrelease
\nThe Prophecies<\/i> occasionally has some moments where it feels
\nlike the mold is going to be broken, but in the end the band
\nbecomes another prog-metal import, and the lot is getting full of
\nthose models.<\/p>\n
This much can be said about Kenziner – Keskinen, vocalist
\nStephen Frederick, keyboardist Mikko Harkin and drummer Brian
\nHarris: at least they make the disc seem like it’s flying by. Many
\nsuch discs feel like a minute is an hour long, but Kenziner tries
\ntheir best to keep things fresh for the listener. In that sense, at
\nleast, they succeeded.<\/p>\n
The question, of course, is whether or not the music is able to
\nsucceed in its own way. And if
\nThe Prophecies<\/i> had tried more to strike out on its own
\nunique path than follow the same one that countless other bands
\nhave tread on, it could have worked. Instead, songs like “Live
\nForever,” “Carry On Tomorrow” and “Dimensions” might bring a case
\nof deja vu onto the listener – that is, you’ll think you’ve heard
\nthis somewhere before.<\/p>\n
Yet there is some faint glimmer of hope offered by Kenziner.
\n“Trail Of Tears” might not be the most natural sounding progression
\nfor a band like Kenziner (they never sound at home with the style),
\nbut it at least shows they were trying to do something out of the
\nordinary. That does end up helping the second half of the disc,
\nwhere songs like “Eternity,” “Like A Paradise” and the title track
\nstart to show the promise that this band could have.<\/p>\n
One other thing that is admirable about this album: it’s not too
\noften you have a disc recorded on two continents put together to
\nsound so natural. If I’m reading the liner notes right, the band
\ndidn’t play together on any of these songs. (Then again, maybe they
\ndid like Metallica and recorded rough versions which were used as
\nguide tracks.)<\/p>\n
\nThe Prophecies<\/i> has a sense that we’re being told the same
\nfuture by Kenziner as we’ve been told by other bands in this genre.
\nBut there is a faint glimmer of hope that this band could still
\nforge their own sound and rise above the rest of the pack. Let’s
\nhope that happens sooner, rather than later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6555],"rating":[5619],"class_list":["post-36998","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-kenziner","rating-rating-c"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36998"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36998"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}