TYRANNY

This is a concept album that is unique, in that it is... "To be continued". And it takes another 7 years before the subject of this story is picked back up on "Room V". These two albums are coincedently my 2 favourite SHADOW GALLERY records. Some guests on this one including James LaBrie from DREAM THEATER and DC Cooper from numerous bands including ROYAL HUNT, both guys contribute on vocals of course. By the way the production is flawless.

"Act 1" begins with "Stiletto In The Sand" a heavy duty introduction to our story, with pounding drums and bass as guitar and synths add to the sound. They have my attention. "War For Sale" features more of the same with some blistering guitar. Vocals are heard for the first time in this heavy soundscape. The synth work 4 minutes in is good and is followed by some ripping guitar. "Out Of Nowhere" is a mid paced tune with some heaviness that comes and goes. Check out the guitar before 3 minutes. I like the vocals too. Excellent song. "Mystery" has a good rhythm in the intro that comes and goes throughout. It becomes uptempo with more great vocals. A blazing guitar solo after 4 minutes is followed by some good drumming. "Hope For Us ?" is ballad-like with piano and vocal harmonies. It's ok. "Victims" is more to my liking. It opens with piano and synths that are replaced by a heavy sound with vocals. A great melody of scorching guitar and piano follows. The song ends with a drum, guitar and bass melody that is even better. "Broken" is mellow with piano, synths and vocals.

"Act II" opens with "I Believe" and the intro is quite dramatic with vocal melodies. It calms down 1 1/2 minutes in with piano. A nice heavy sound 3 minutes in with passionate vocals to follow. A QUEEN-like section after 4 1/2 minutes as both the guitar and harmonies bring that band to mind. The guitar to follow is outstanding. "Roads Of Thunder" has an awesome intro with some great bass and blistering guitar before the vocals arrive. "Spoken Words" is mellow with guest female vocals from Laura Jaeger who would return on "Room V". "New World Order" opens with the feeling that something evil is present. Nice affect. Theatrical vocals come in. Some excellent drum and synth work 5 1/2 minutes in. The final 2 minutes are so well done. "Chased" is uptempo with pounding drums with synths before some blistering guitar joins in. "Ghost Of A Chance" is another ballad-like tune to begin with. It builds to a full sound 3 1/2 minutes in. "Christmas Day" isn't that far off is it. This one is fairly mellow until the ear splitting guitar solo comes in. Nice. It calms right back down though.

I'm not big on all of the mellow tracks but there's enough here for a low 4 stars. You can really hear where "Room V" was born out of when you listen to this one. I feel they have improved upon this one in several ways with "Room V", but I can recommend both of these records as top notch Prog-Metal.