GARDEN WALL

— First review of this album —

This band play Prog Metal on the heavy side .I think i got this album 5 months before it was here on Prog Archives .This band is left beyind and this is very sad because this is Prog in the fates warning type or so This is execute in a trash jam way like pure inspiration on there side The first song is full of complexe rift,going will in all direction that hold Well .The voice is male testosterone with some shout ,there is a lot off music in betwen and the music is very good. the music 4.5 the singning 3 (no Grault voice) i like this band (sorry for my righting im french) Thanks Pierre

I think we need to get some "Tech/Extreme Prog Metal" fans to start reviewing GARDEN WALL albums to get the ratings up.I would describe their sound as a blend of IN THE WOODS...,ZERO HOUR & PSYCHOTIC WALTZ. The vocals are an acquired taste and can be very theatrical.Complex,experimental and aggressive is the order of the day with a vocalist who likes to spit out the words. Man this is good though.I'm so impressed with the arrangements and the instrumenatal work of this band.They're very talented and seem to be blazing their own unique path.By the way they thank fellow Italian metal band PATHOSRAY in the liner notes. "Lead" opens with sounds that you would probably hear in a horror movie.You know something is there in the dark but you don't know what it is.It kicks in after 1 1/2 minutes.Theatrical vocals a minute later.This is chaotic and loud.It settles before 4 1/2 minutes.The guitar is fairly melodic,almost soaring after 5 minutes.Vocals come in and change the mood quickly as he spits out his venom.It's almost dreamy before 7 1/2 minutes! Sounds like mellotron.Great sound with guitar after 8 1/2 minutes.When it settles it reminds me of KAYO DOT. "Hatred" opens with whispered vocals,violin and some dark atmosphere.The tempo picks up and check out the doom-like guitars after 2 1/2 minutes.It settles again before 4 1/2 minutes to an eerie calm.Contrasts continue.Violin is back. "Anniversary" has a good drum intro as vocals and an abrasive sound come in.The tempo continues to change.Nice deep bass before 2 minutes and the guitar joins in.Vocals are back after 3 minutes and they become theatrical a minute later.A beautiful soundscape comes in before 6 minutes.Guitar comes in grinding away with huge bass lines a minute later.Riffs follow with piano to end it. "Bisturi(Including Coda:Withered Rose)" hits the ground running.This is heavy with vocals.A psychedelic calm is brief.The spoken words 3 minutes in are creepy.It thunders back in at 3 1/2 minutes until it settles with bass and piano after 5 minutes.Contrasts continue. "Deinococcus Radioduran" opens with the vocalsist screaming.Just an insane song that is all over the place. "Obsession" opens with pounding drums as vocals come in.A spacey calm takes over.Heavy bass 2 1/2 minutes in followed by intense vocals and sound.Incredible! "Christmas Eve" has such a good drum intro.Crazy vocals with a dark heavy sound come in quickly.Violin followed by riffs.It settles again as contrasts continue. "Negation Of Becoming" has lots of funky bass early before vocals and ripping guitar come in.An eerie calm 2 minutes in with piano and later at 5 minutes with creepy vocals. "Dreams Slayer" is led by drums and violin early.Huge bass with theatrical vocals follow.This contrast continues.Check out the guitar 4 minutes in! The ending is out of control. Challenging,complex,heavy and bizarre is the order of the day on "Forget the Colours".Amazing!

Garden Wall is a progressive metal band from Italy with some albums in their pockets but never makeing any noise about theirt music. They are almost in underground, even they have more than 15 years behind in music. Onestly Garden Wall is un underrated band who desearve a better place in prog metal zone. The musicianship is tight, well played album with a lot of twist and turns, time signature all the time makes from this third album The seduction of madness from 1995 a real prog metal winner. Asd I said on next album Chimica from 1997, the music thay play are not very common, even for a prog metal listner, but after you get wats is all about you end up love this band and the way they play. All the tracks are good, maybe a little better the instrumental passages than the one with voice, but as a whole is good no doubt. I will give a solid 3 stars for this album, good one all the way , but, there is a but, sometimes I thinks this album lacks of emotions, and the originality is quite hard to find these days, but doesn;t mean is bad, not by far. If you are a prog metal listner give this band a try, they worth without any doubts a better view.

Garden Wall is an underrated prog metal band from Italy. Their forth album is quite un improvement over the first releases. Very complex structures of the pieces with a lots of time signatures, solid musicianship through all the album. All instruments play at full capacity delivering one of the most chalenging prog metal around these days. While is more than ten years when first came out but is still present and more important , never boring. The voice of Alessandro Seravalle is very theatrical, even in places very hard to get into, but when you became to enjoy this kind of voice you never get tired of. The cherry on the cake here is the opening track named Chemotaxis - who is a 35 min suite of the highest calibre with nice shifting moods from metal touches to mellow ones , excellent piece of progressive metal, some of the bands from today must take notice on this track because kick ass. The rest of the pieces are , of course good but i'm not very enthusiastic about them, only good. The keyboards and drums have a big roll here , delivering some great chops and very instristing arrangements in places. The guitar sounds on the first track specially, metal than ever before on a Garden Wall piece with nice heavy touches as mood needs it and very melodic when mood shift to another musical spectrum. Anyway a solid 3 stars for this album, kinda underrated by many prog metal listners and for sure needs attention.

"Chimica" which means "Chemistry" in Italian is a concept album that looks at that aspect of our bodies in different ways. The music here is complex and often chaotic with theatrical vocals.It did take many listens to finally get into the first song "Chemotaxis" which is almost 35 minutes long.Funny but the other six songs i liked right away,and they continue to be my favourites on the album. "Chemotaxis" opens powerfully as drums are pounded violently.Vocals a minute in.This song contrasts the heavy,chaotic passages with the calm ones throughout.It's really an amazing ride that can be difficult to enjoy at times.The drumming especially is really outstanding.The music is very technical at times and at other times quite melodic.As i said in the intro, this suite was difficult to digest and to come to terms with,but it was worth the patience. "Dave In The Swimming Pool" has a fun,uptempo intro before they get serious and impress me with their instrumental prowess.Back to the fun again until a shred-fest before 2 1/2 minutes takes over.This instrumental ends as it began. "La Belle Dame" opens with riffs and organ runs as drums are pounded into submission.It turns lighter sounding a minute in.The drumming is fantastic before 2 1/2 minutes.Vocals 3 minutes in as it calms right down.A killer guitar solo after 6 minutes.Another calm a minute later with vocals.A heavy soundscape 8 1/2 minutes in. "Immer Unterwegs" is a great instrumental with powerful organ and heavy guitar.A brief calm 1 1/2 minutes in.Love the drumming in this one too. "Psychic Infrared" features a soundscape that seems to swirl until the theatrical vocals come in with powerful organ runs.This contrast continues. "Immune(He Knows My Strength...)" has a good melody with bass.Guitar comes in grinding away after a minute.Cool song. "No More" opens with a relaxed guitar melody as crisp drums join in.Background synths arrive and it all sounds so good.The tempo picks up 2 minutes in but it's brief.It turns sinister 3 minutes in with tortured vocals to follow.It continues to be dark and intense until it ends. This is a unique band no doubt about that.If you could imagine blending ZERO HOUR with IN THE WOODS... you might be getting warm.

This was such a pleasant surprise for me.Like others have said this one is a grower,and that may be in part because of how complex it is.This album sounds more like a heavy-prog album than a metal album,and i should mention the rough and theatrical vocals that do bring Peter Hammill to mind.7 of the 11 tracks are over 7 minutes. "Prelude:The Gates Of Hypnos" is an opening instrumental that features piano melodies throughout. "Communion" has more piano in the intro before a full sound arrives a minute in.Vocals after 1 1/2 minutes.Piano continues throughout,but this one gets pretty heavy at times. "The Bride Of The Wind" is an instrumental.It is pastoral to begin with but organ,drums and bass come in quickly.The tempo and mood changes throughout.I can't tell you how much i adore this tune.Just listening to the drums and other instruments is a pleasure. "Sex" is the longest song at 10 minutes.It opens with uptempo blasts of instrumental work like SPOCK'S BEARD before it settles with a dark vibe.Scorching guitar takes over just ripping it up as drums pound.Nice.Raw vocals 2 1/2 minutes in.It calms down before 4 minutes with what sounds like mellotron.The guitar takes over 7 minutes in and is quite hypnotising as it continues to the end of the song. "Interlude:Between Eros And Thanatos" is a short one minute track that features piano melodies throughout. "Band Lauft" opens with some good heaviness as guitar and drums lead the way.The tempo picks up after a minute.It continues to shift.An atmospheric calm 2 1/2 minutes in.A catchy beat comes in around 4 minutes.Nice heavy sound to end it. "Kaos" is hard and heavy and the guitar reminds me of the band TIME MACHINE.Chunky bass and pounding drums are excellent.Deep and theatrical vocals 2 minutes in.Organ after 4 minutes.Lazy guitar melodies before 5 1/2 minutes are great.Big finish. "Onrios" is more uptempo but still fairly heavy.It settles down when vocals come in after 1 1/2 minutes.Heavy after 3 minutes.That contrast continues.That TIME MACHINE sounding guitar is back.It ends with acoustic guitar after 8 minutes. "The Cage" is dark and atmospheric to begin with.A full sound after a minute.Organ 2 minutes in as vocals follow.Powerful organ runs 4 minutes in.Awesome sound. "Maj Di Muart" is heavy early but it calms down after a minute.Vocals after 1 1/2 minutes.Sounds like accordion before the vocals by the way.A great heavy sound after 4 minutes.Vocals are back 5 1/2 minutes in with pounding drums.Some ripping guitar after 8 minutes.This sounds so good.That accordion sound is back 9 minutes in. "Mortal Maj" is the concluding track that is filled with piano melodies much like the intro. An acquired taste i would say, but those fond of heavy complex music with some variety would do well to check ths album out.

Garden Wall would get heavier in subsequent albums, but on their debut the band seems to be paying tribute to a whole host of neo-prog bands like Marillion, Pendragon and Cathedral. In fact they remind me quite a bit of Cathedral with their heavy rhythm section grounding the guitar arpeggios and keyboard flourishes. The vocals here are measurably better though.

I don’t know much about these guys, but this album shows they have a strong knowledge of eighties progressive rock. Musically they remind me a little bit of fellow countrymen Sad Minstrel with their highly expressive and heavier rock sound, but these guys rely a lot more on synth orchestral layers than that group. The songs all exude plenty of energy, although I’m left with a general feeling that this is closer to slightly moody eighties music than some of their neo contemporaries.

While I said the vocals are better than bands like Cathedral, vocalist Alessandro Seravalle does have a strong attribute of the throaty singing of many eighties crooners like Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s Holly Johnson or the Romantics Wally Palmar. The music isn’t anything like those bands, but Seravalle seems to be another in a long line of Bryan Ferry soundalikes who have graced album tracks over the past thirty years or so. Not necessarily a bad thing, and considering the band’s penchant for moody synthetic sounds on tracks like “Silent Waves in a Raging Ocean” and “Ekpyrosis”, his voice is for the most part a reasonable fit.

Speaking of “Ekpyrosis”, this is the most lengthy song on the album at more than thirteen minutes, and while it features some grand climaxes and really cool chamber vocals, for the most part I think the thing drags on for a bit longer than is necessary, especially in the middle section.

The band shows a glimpse of what’s to come with the closing “Onde Radio” though, a prototypical neo- prog number with driving drums, soaring electric guitar and a torrid pace. This is much close to the sound the band would show on their next couple of albums, but on this debut the brooding synth arrangements seem to be much more prevalent.

This isn’t a great album by any means, but it is decent. So three stars are not unreasonable. I wouldn’t spend a lot of money on a copy, but at a fair price this would make an okay addition to most neo-progger’s collections. Recommended to fans of late eighties neo bands and those who like Italian music that isn’t awash with symphonic pompousness.

peace

At first, I thought this is the band in the vein of Genesis by looking at the name. So at that time I thought that it's something like Pallas, Jadis, IQ or other neo progressive band. But when I spun the album at the first time I was quite shocked that the music was quite heavy and it's in totally different vein than any album Genesis has ever released. It's not totally progressive metal like what we have typically listened to like Dream Theater or the like - even though there is some elements of the music that are similar. I think the band has tried to appear differently from typical riff-based heavy progressive metal music. In general, the music is rough with some heavy riffs and guitar solo with some flavors of symphonic music.

The opening track "Horizon Of Events" (6:05) proves to be varied in styles starting with screaming vocal at start followed with guitar riffs which do not indicate the sound of typical progressive music. Indeed, the riffs remind me to the music of King Crimson. The music style combines ups and downs in different styles, textured by riffs and powerful combination of drums and vocals.

"Taenia" (4:45) is a unique song in itself because at start of the music it demonstrates a music in prog met vein but in the middle of the track there is a break with unique organ sound. It moves to the next track with more on symphonic style than regular progressive metal "W8less" (6:49) where the heavy riffs join the music later. The combined work of keyboard, drums, bass and guitars is excellent. The song also contains inventive keyboard solo augmented by dynamic basslines. The intro part is quite long until vocal enters in the middle of the track. The music is diverse in style with many ups and downs throughout the track. The more I listen to this album the more I like it.

It then suddenly moves to a break with wonderful piano work in "Noia" (5:53) to accompany low register notes vocal line. Listening to this intro part you would not believe if someone categorizes this album as progressive metal album. I think the piano work is played with top skills of Mauro Olivo. Alessandro Seravalle sings beautifully here. Yes, you might remember bands like Genesis, Marillion or Yes when you are listening to this track only.

"Strange Appetites (Pornopazzia) " (4:54) is a pure instrumental. It starts off with a relatively complex intro in the vein of King Crimson / Gentle Giant music with excellent guitar work combined with dynamic drumming and keyboards. The intro part is really powerful and enjoyable for most of you who like progressive music. At approx 2:55 minutes the music turns into faster tempo with more complex arrangements followed by excellent keyboard work. .

The music continues nicely with "Le Château Fou " (6:08) in similar vein like previous song but this time is something similar to circus music. What surprising is the inclusion of flute right before the vocal enters the music. It's really good, power metal combined with flute. The vocal enters nicely to the music and the music still continues in symphonic style.

"All The Best Years (My Top Ten)" (3:21) is an excellent instrumental track with great flute work combined with soft guitar riffs and melody at break. There are many inventive segments this song demonstrates. It proves that the music of Garden Wall is quite diverse in styles. "The Doll" (8:27) is the longest track in this album and it demonstrates how the boys in the band wer quite creative in songwriting al well as putting it together in an excellent. Like other tracks, this one also offers unexpected curved lines in terms of structure but the whole segments constitute cohesive effort. "Blurp" (1:46) is a wonderful bridge with great flute work and complex arrangement which brings the album to the concluding, album title, track "Seduction (Of Madness)" (7:51). It starts in grandiose style through a combination of repetitive piano work augmented beautifully with a series of blast music followed with stunning piano solo combined with other instruments. There are many ups and downs in beautiful way. When vocal enters the music it reminds me to Gentle Giant choir line. So how are gonna categorize this album? It's truly a prog album because it delivers a series of mystique.

Overall, I do not think this album is a full progressive metal album that you might have thought a proximity with Dream Theater or other progressive metal albums. If you look into deep the music of Garden Wall, you would agree with me that the music has heavy riffs but they do not dominate the whole segments in the album. Some tracks, in fact, have no progressive metal elements at all like the title track. What I would suggest is that this album is worth collecting, it's an excellent addition to any prog music collection. The music is a blend of King Crimson, Gentle Giant, and a bit of Dream Theater or Symphony X.Keep on proggin'..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

I must say that if there is one thing this band is, it is original. To hear pounding, complex, metal riffs interspersed with lounge type keyboard parts is quite interesting to me. At times I feel like Gentle Giants keyboardist joined a prog death metal band. The singing is like what you might expect if Peter Hammill had been an Italian opera singer with a taste for heavy metal music. I hope I haven't scared you away yet, because there are some fine musical qualities to this album. The drummer, for instance, is one of the best I've heard. His playing is incredible; fast, precise, creative, and very skillful. The bass playing has some standout spots (on a couple of the instrumental tracks), but is usually somewhat buried by the guitars. The keyboardist seems like he thinks he is in a different band, yet still manages to blend in an unusual way with the rest of the band (the tracks were he composed the music are by far the most symphonic in style). And the guitarist and singer, and primary composer, is quite a piece of work. I like his singing style, even if his English is a bit too accented and his grammar a bit off. His lyrics are quite hilarious...........assuming you can laugh about playing with human skulls and using a violin bow to rape a bleeding aorta (no, I don't know exactly who this is accomplished and I suspect neither does he). Yes, the lyrics can be quite grim, but they are presented in such a loud and over the top fashion that I can't help but like them. But that's just me. You may be horrified by the whole package. But if you like complex metal, mixed with some symphonic flair and dramatic vocals, you may well enjoy this album. I did.

However, I can't give more than 3 stars to this album, as it simply isn't really going to be essential to most people (not even me, really). But it is fascinating and unusual in many ways, so it might interest the more adventurous prog heads out there.

For the life of me, I'm trying to remember why I bought this album a few years ago and I can't come up with an answer. I'm not a fan of prog metal and I don't have any other types of this kind of prog to judge/compare it to. So, I'll just come out and say it's not my type of music, BUT, it has some merit. Seravalle's vocals fly all over the place. He reminds me of the dude from the Italian band Deus Ex Machina if that particular band leaned towards metal. In spots, there's a definate Fish era Marillion sound to his vocals but for the most part, it's a screetch-fest with some toned down singing on tracks like 'Noia', which is the sole ballad. There's Fripp-like guitar on the first track but for most of the time Seravalle's guitar sounds like a car having a hard time starting, it just grinds and grinds. They do mix things up a bit with some carnival-like melodies and some looped sound effects, (babies crying and phones ringing). Keyboards are keep in the background but will occasionally pop up front for a run or two. It's mainly a showcase for Seravalle's vocals and guitar wailings. I will admit at times I want to throw this disc out my car window, yet I'm totally intrigued by the balls these guys have throwing around time signatures and the ultra goofy lyrics. I can't for sanity's sake give it anything more than three stars, although 2.5 is more like it. If you're a prog metal fan you may give it higher marks but three it is. A one of a kind disc in my collection for sure. For adventurous prog fans only!