LADY MACBETH

Lady Lane

Lady MacBeth is my personal Lana Lane favorite. It is a weakly conceptual album based on the Shakespearian theme. The whole album flows perfectly from start to finish, keeping the listener spellbound with one great melody after another, varying the moods, styles, and tempos, to great effect, without ever loosing track of the album's firm direction. It is a very consistent album with one of the band's strongest set of songs. The superb opening song The Dream That Never Ends reminds slightly of a Metal version of Renaissance. While this opening song is perhaps the absolute highlight of the album, the rest of the songs form an organic whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Lana's vocals are as strong as ever, and Erik Norlander shines of his plethora of vintage and modern keyboards. The sonic quality of the album is as high as can be and it is graced with a magnificent sleeve picture.

Compared to other albums by the band, this one is perhaps a bit darker, and partly more solemn. There is a slightly folky nature to some songs, somehow making me think of Strawbs' masterpiece Hero & Heroine (my association is perhaps reinforced by the fact that there is a song here entitled Shine On Golden Sun as the mentioned Strawbs album has a song called Shine On Silver Sun). Like on previous albums by the band, there is a great mixture here of progressive, Dio-era Rainbow-like Heavy Metal (Summon The Devil, Keeper Of The Flame) and lovely Symphonic ballads. The album ends on a high note with the lovely Dunsinane Walls.

A perfect album!

After the disappointing Project Shangri-La, Lana Lane came with a CD based on William Shakespeare´s play Lady MacBeth. I still remember how surprised I was by its energy and coherence (unlike some of their previous works). She and her musicians seems to have found the right balance between the symphonic rock of her earlier stuff with the heavier tunes of later ones. With Mark McCrite back in the fold (and Neil Citron also appearing on some tracks) the band was now on the right track and this CD is definitely one of her most successful. While much of her past sound is still around, it is a different approach (the inclusion of some Celtic tones on some tracks is a novelty). And a very nice one, I should add.

So we have back Norlander´s vintage symphonic keys along with some blistering guitar riffs and solos. There are also several calmer moments too, plus a very beautiful instrumental (The Vision, one of Norlander´s best). As one can only expect from such gifted musician/engineer/producer, Lane´s husband and partner gives the record a crystal clear sound and balance with all the instruments and vocals appearing loud and clear and at the right moments. There are no real highlights here, except maybe for the aforementioned The Vision. It´s the kind of album you hear from start to finish with no weak moments.

Lady MacBeth may not reach the heights of some of her best works like Queen Of The Ocean, but it is a solid and inspired album. It restore my faith in her talent and good taste. I´m looking forward to hear her two follow ups. Rating: 4 strong stars.