The biggest pitfall inherent in progressive rock or progressive
\nmetal is that after a while, it all starts sounding the same.
\n(The
\ncorollary is that it all starts sounding like someone else.
\nOne band I didn’t review earlier last year was immediately
\nclassified as “Styx and Rush have a really bad car accident”.)<\/p>\n
Thankfully for music reviewers and consumers alike, some
\nbands transcend the copycat nature of the genre, don’t send
\nin the
\nclones, and come up with something of their own. In the case
\nof
\nShadow Gallery’s new release,
\nLegacy<\/i>, it’s not only something
\nunique; it’s something beautiful.<\/p>\n
Beautiful? Describing metal? Well, yes, actually.
\nLegacy<\/i> is a
\nbrilliant, elegant, musically complex, melodic work, worthy
\nof a band many call one of the founders of the prog-metal genre.
\n(Shadow Gallery was the second band ever signed to Magna Carta, and
\nhas been recording since 1993.) This is the genre at its best,
\nplain and simple, and if you like this sort of thing at all you
\nshould probably just click on the CDNOW link now and get it over
\nwith.<\/p>\n
For those of you who need more convincing, let’s talk voices.
\nMike Baker is so far ahead of most screeching
\nhair-band-reject metal vocalists that he could beat them with one
\nvocal cord tied behind his back. He’s expressive, he’s flexible,
\nand you can understand what he’s saying. (Bonus points for those of
\nus who still consider lyrics half of songs.)
\nLegacy<\/i> features soaring, textured harmonies, clear and
\ntranscendent, and then can turn around and smack a serving of
\ngritty, angry background vocals on your musical plate. Shadow
\nGallery has proved themselves to be jack of all trades and masters
\nof most on
\nLegacy<\/i>.<\/p>\n
The guitar work is flawless, ranging from a biting snarl to
\nclear
\nand undistorted melody, and the dual playing of Brendt Allman
\nand
\nGary Wehrkamp (hereafter known as The Guy Who Apparently
\nPlays Everything; he’s credited with guitars, keyboards, bass, and
\nvocals) creates interweaving lines that blow you away with their
\ndelicacy and complexity. Carl Cadden-James’ bass playing provides a
\nsteady thrum around which to weave the melodic elements, and Joe
\nNevolo’s drums serve the same purpose perfectly. Production is
\nclean and uncomplicated, though there’s occasional fun effects
\nthrown in that catch your attention just long enough to
\ndisappear.<\/p>\n
As for tracks, deal with it; everything’s good. However, I have
\nto
\ngive special notice to the central three tracks on the CD,
\n“Colors”,
\n“Society Of The Mind”, and “Legacy”. They are utterly
\ndifferent, each unique; “Colors” is all harmony and power ballad,
\n“Society” sounds like they were listening to Queensryche’s
\nOperation: Mindcrime<\/i> album one day and decided to do them
\none better, and “Legacy” is straight grinding prog-metal. All three
\nare brilliant.<\/p>\n
I’m starting to sound redundant, I know. But this is good stuff.
\nGo. Now. Strike a blow against boring music, and get yourself
\na copy of
\nLegacy<\/i>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":28119,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7636],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-39514","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-shadow-gallery","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39514","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\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39514"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}