Kevin Moore, the original keyboardist for prog-rock metal maves Dream Theater, has become a bit of a musical iconoclast. Since leaving the band in 1996, he has lived in Costa Rica and Turkey, been deeply involved with political and social activism, and — oh yeah\u00a0— recorded three CDs of his unique, atmospheric, haunting progressive rock under the name Chroma Key. <\/p>\n
Chroma Key\u2019s 2000 CD You Go Now<\/i> is one of my favorite CDs of all time<\/a>\u00a0— when I did my Desert Island Discs on the Daily Vault Forum<\/a>, it barely didn\u2019t make the list — but I\u2019ve never gotten around to reviewing his other two CDs until now. <\/p>\n Dead Air<\/i> is, like most first solo CDs, a transitional disc. Fans of Dream Theater\u2019s progressive metal sound must have been confused; Chroma Key is, instead, trance-influenced synthesizer pop, dark and moody, with obscure lyrics and complex arrangements. It\u2019s hard not to compare it to artists like Brian Eno or Peter Gabriel, and there is some tinge of that in Dead Air<\/i> — the intro to \u201cs.o.s.\u201d could be lifted directly from Security<\/i> or So<\/i>. Chroma Key adds a strong rhythmic element to the genre, though; on Dead Air<\/i>, that\u2019s provided by the then-rhythm section of prog metal band Fates Warning. <\/p>\n Moore\u2019s transition from the firm structure of metal to the more ethereal and Apollonian sound of Chroma Key has awkward moments on Dead Air.<\/i>\u00a0 Tracks like \u201cAmerica The Video\u201d and \u201cCamera 4\u201d don\u2019t quite gel \u2013 and there\u2019s nothing concrete I can give you to tell you why. For me, at least, they just don\u2019t work. <\/p>\n Contrast that with \u201cColorblind,\u201d \u201cEven The Waves\u201d and \u201cOn The Page\u201d — which do work and show flashes of the brilliance Chroma Key would reach on You Go Now<\/i>. The best track by far on Dead Air For Radios<\/i>, however, is the driving, dark, and obsessive \u201cUndertow.\u201d When Moore sings \u201cThe street below is water, flowing \/ Undertow\u2026\u201d, it\u2019s chilling, fascinating, and wonderful.<\/p>\n Dead Air For Radios<\/i> is a great CD in places. There\u2019s no denying Moore\u2019s talent and it would come to fruition with later work. If you like Moore\u2019s work already, or this genre, it comes recommended.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":28640,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6569],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-40122","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-chroma-key","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40122","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=40122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40122"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}