Newsgroup: it.arti.musica.metal
Titolo: SHADOW GALLERY - legacy

Una recensione trovata sul web:
Shadow Gallery - Legacy
( Dan Birchall)
It's been about eight years since Shadow Gallery were first mentioned here.
In that time, they've managed to put out three CD's, drawing more than a few
favorable comparisons to bands like Queensryche and Dream Theater in the
process. Their fourth release, Legacy, hits stores on April 10, and will
doubtless draw more of those comparisons:
It was mixed by Neil Kernon, who worked with Queensryche on Rage for Order
like Empire, it follows on the heels of one of the best metal operas of the
preceding decade, and though it's not conceptual itself, it touches on a few
themes and has something to say.
It makes it clear that Shadow Gallery is every bit as willing and able to
pull off lengthy, technical instrumentals as, say, Dream Theater.
The CD contains only six tracks, but is not an EP - most of them are long
tracks. The opener, Cliffhanger 2 (the name is a reference to Cliffhanger,
the opening track on 1995's Carved in Stone) starts off ethereally - go
ahead, tell your friends it's "new age" in the vein of Mike Oldfield's The
Songs of Distant Earth. They'll believe you for a minute and a half, after
which it shifts into a heavy instrumental intro reminiscent of Dream
Theater. By the time the vocals start, three minutes in, there's no doubt
this is a progressive metal song, with crunchy guitar work that reminds me
of Operation: Mindcrime. It's actually in two parts - Hang On contains all
the vocals and lasts about half the song, with the remainder consisting of
an instrumental, The Crusher. Yes, all the vocals are in a 3-minute chunk of
a 13-minute song. Like I said, they're not afraid of long instrumentals!
Destination Unknown lasts "only" seven minutes, but again, the lyrics are
completed in the first half of the song, backed with keyboards, acoustic and
electric guitars and flute that should appeal to fans of early songs like
The Queen of the City of Ice. The latter half of the song is another lengthy
instrumental, which shifts gears from a fairly hard sound to a much softer
one, then segues into Colors, another seven-minute track, fairly slow and
easy on the ears. Colors can be interpreted as being about relationships,
perspective, diversity, or all of the above.
The fading notes of Colors are abruptly interrupted by the driving
introduction to Society of the Mind, which showcases the band's biting
social commentary (what? another parallel to Queensryche?) at its
Tyranny-era best. If you think about the Internet, surveillance by "big
brother," school violence, "first person shooter" games, or students being
fed anti-depressants, this song should hit a few of your buttons. It's also
less than five and a half minutes long - between the length and the timely
lyrics, this one just might get some airplay.
Legacy, the album's shortest song at just over five minutes, is another
moderately heavy song, with lyrics about identity, interconnectedness,
personal and interpersonal strength, and some of those theological
overtones. The bass and drum work is fairly impressive, especially during
the vocal verses in the first few minutes of the song.
If you're keeping track, you've probably figured out that we've used up five
of six songs, and only have 37 minutes of music. One more long track, and
we'll have another disappointingly short progressive metal album with only
45 to 50 minutes of music, right?
Wrong.
The sixth and final track, First Light, may be the longest single track
you've ever heard - or ever will - on a studio album. Longer than
Queensryche's 11-minute Suite Sister Mary. Longer than Shadow Gallery's own
17-minute The Queen of the City of Ice. Longer than Dream Theater's
23-minute A Change of Seasons. How long, you ask? How about 34 minutes? Yes,
it's basically the whole second "side" of the album - and there's no way it
would have happened in the days of vinyl.
About deep space exploration, the unknown, infinity, heaven, and such
things, this one is there for all you space fans, Arthur C. Clarke readers,
fans of other long songs, and folks like that. It's not 34 minutes of
non-stop music, though - two-thirds of the way through, there's a fade-out
to a couple minutes of silence, then a gradual fade-in of vocals, effects,
and a return to music for the last five or six minutes of the song. The
strange non-musical portion will probably be the subject of some debate over
what's going on, and what it means.
Overall, Legacy is more progressive, artistic and technical than the band's
previous work, although there are a couple nods to the possibility of
mainstream radio airplay. It exhibits the well-balanced sound and highly
polished production they're known for, with flawless instrumental work and
vocals that, while not as emphasized ass those of Geoff Tate or James
LaBrie, are clear, emotional and perfectly suited to the music. It's not a
sequel to Tyranny any more than Empire was a sequel to Operation: Mindcrime,
but it's definitely some of the better music out there.
--
 "And a fading memory
    Can't cloud the pain
     When the voice is gone
       The words still remains"
  *** 
www.stargazer.it
 ***


SSSSSSSIIIIIIIII, grande ricerca...e ricorda...TU_SEI_TU
--
*********************
"Robyz"
xar...@tin.it
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SSSSSSIIIIIIIIIII.
Grande ritrovamento...e ricorda...TU_SEI_TU
--
*********************
"Robyz"
Shadow Gallery forever
xar...@tin.it
*********************