PARANORMAL ACTIVITY

This is a very interesting band with a very skillful debut.MAYADOME play the right progressive metal style,not power,not symphonic,not anything else,just pure progressive metal in the way we like it. ''Paranormal Activity'' contains some very interesting compositions from which I pick out ''Wait a minute'' (very powerful track that introduces the listener to the sound of the band),the self titled track as well as ''Triffles'' (great chorus)...The style of the band lies between DREAM THEATER (maybe a little bit heavier), especially in the keyboard solos and the heavy guitar style of playing, and FATES WARNING (this one refers to the great atmospheric breaks of the disc - and there are plenty of them!)...Unfortunately there are also some weak points as the voice of the singer (the vocals are something like a curse for prog metal bands) who's style of singing is mediocre without being annoying and I could also notice that the album gets lost in its own duration,maybe some tracks are too long or a couple of them shouldn't exist in the album...All in all,we have to deal with a 3-star recommended effort for those who love the traditional DREAM THEATER-ish progressive metal...

From Sweden came MAYADOME, in 1996 with PARANORMAL ACTIVITY,a very interesting and promissing prog metal band in the middle of the '90's!And this album had the effect of a bomb among other excellent albums released in the same period...I remember here bands like ,,,ALTURA...DALI'S DILEMA...HYDROTOXIN...EXISES...all gone now,unfortunatelly....What bringed new this album was a ferocious technicity combined with some very ambitious ideas and clever texts,all the amalgam resulted giving some pretty long songs and quite numerous moments of technical demonstration of the competent members of the band! PARANORMAL ACTIVITY is a long album of 72 minutes and of course,it's a little diluted,but in the end we realise that the compositions are outstanding ,most of all showing some amazing technique from the guys in the band!Double pedal rhythms provided by a monster drummer called TEDDY MOLLER-now in LOCH VOSTOCK, 2 inspired guitar players very good in solos and in rhythm passages too,an efficient bass player..and the weak link BJORN HOLMQUIST, a limited guy in his register,with a nasal voice and without great vocal capacities.Imagine an Ozzy Osbourne with a severe flu and throat problems!.I am sure,with a better vocalist,MAYADOME would have had other perspectives!Also,SHRAPNELRECORDS wasn't in it's best period there,the time of the guitar heroes albums was gone,the label were more orientated on blues and then was starting the new fusion sub label TONE CENTER! After this album Bjorn was replaced on NEAR LIFE EXPERIENCE by a better vocalist ,but the band sadly splitted shortly due some numerous label problems,lack of support and other things!Overall what remains is a strong album of aggressive prog metal,with some memorable instrumental interventions,in DREAM THEATER style-era METROPOLIS.Just hear the middle section of MERCENARY and TRIFLES,or NEW WAYS OF EXISTENCE ,for example,they are breathtaking!For an album of more than 70 minutes,100 % we find here 50 excellent -10 mediocre and 10 weak!So,it's quite good for a first shot.The sign of vauue and resistance in time,ot the quality of an album is the fact that each time when I made an audition of this album I got the same pleasant feeling I had a14 years ago...and that says a lot!! 4,5 STARS for a remarcable debut album!