Shadow Gallery - s/t 3/5
Reviewed: 8-5-05
Tracklist:
1. The dance of fools
2. Darktown
3. Mystified
4. Questions at hand
5. The final hour
6. Say goodbye to the morning
7. The queen of the city of ice
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Shadow Gallery’s debut CD was considered by the band as little more than a poorly produced starter CD but, in reality, is far more than that. The production is not up to the perfect standards of their future CDs and is probably a little below average, but it doesn’t come close to making the CD difficult to listen to. What this CD does show is a band with enormous talent that hasn’t fulfilled its potential, but that has made a CD that is beyond many band's potential.
Shadow Gallery is a progressive metal band, on the lighter side of metal, that has an amazing ability to write accessible melodies that make the listener forget that it’s a progressive band. Although they would make better CDs after this, Shadow Gallery shows these qualities with this debut CD. Although they show off their vast potential, the songwriting on this CD is a mixed bag. There are some really good tracks like the first 2, which both starts out with a minute or 2 instrumental with both keyboard and guitar leads before moving into some strong vocals. And “Say goodbye to the morning” is a fabulous track, easily the best on the CD. This track shows off the band’s ability to write a great melody with an original sound and mix in some progressiveness all at the same time. The chorus to this will not leave your mind for several days. There are some lower points, however, including the monotonous “Mystified” and the mind numbingly slow and torturous 17 minute finale, “The queen of the city of ice”.
This is a very nice CD that shows enormous potential, but doesn’t fulfill the potential. There are some terrific tracks on this CD, but also some boring ones. The good news is that even the lower quality tracks still have quality melodies. The band also has a terrific attention to detail including top quality musicianship, emotional and detailed singing, plus there was clearly lots of time and effort put into the multi-layered vocals. This is a good CD and one that shows the beginnings of a band that will go on to reach much loftier heights.
DAVID
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