SHADOW GALLERY

A rather weak debut for an otherwise exceptional band. Honestly, if this had been the first Shadow Gallery album I had listened to, I may have not gone much further - thankfully, that honour went to "Carved in Stone" which is, while not their best effort by far, considerably better than "Shadow Gallery".

Which brings us to this album - "Shadow Gallery". The first thing you notice is the terrible, terrible production - I don't know what went wrong here. The bass is hardly audible, the drums are a faint backdrop and the synths are probably over-bearing...the only thing that sounds about right is Mike Baker's vocals.

The intriguing "Darktown" and "Say Goodbye to the Morning" are the standout tracks for me. The closer "The Queen of the City of Ice" is quite a disappointment. Normally, I'm a sucker for long epic closers but this one just doesn't get started at all...but then again, maybe better production may have brought out some elements which hidden away in the murky background.

(PS: a 20th anniversary rematered edition sounds like a really good idea to me...)