A GENTLEMAN'S HURRICANE

A treat in progressive metal! I got my hands on this album after seeing it on the Top 2007 records chart. It's been ages since I really apreciated Queensrÿche(while I still hold to that Operation: Mindcrime is a modern masterpiece), but this album brings back alot of love for a genre I thought I had left behind me. The old-school(ish) style of melodic progressive metal with emphasis on catchy melodies and structure. You can say that A Gentleman's Hurricane is alot like Dark Tranquility meets Queensrÿche meets Masterplan, and the mix is truly astonishing.

The album kicks of with some narration and a very omnious feel, and then moves on to 11 songs of stagering catchiness and vision. Seeing as it's a concept album I won't spoil it by analyzing every songs lyrics, but it is a suprisingly interesting story these swedes put togheter.

Overall musicmanship on this album is really good, while not virtuoso the main priority of the band does not seem to be to show off flashy chops, but instead to create a very solid, brilliantly structured base for the concept and the strong melodies to stand on. Also Andreas Novak really does a great job singing on this album, delivering both heavy and soft vocals without losing credibility or quality, showing off lots of versatility.

All in all, a great progressive album for those of us who enjoy the more cheesy-style of Progressive Metal. Well worth checking out even if you aren't a big fan of the genre.

4/5