TWINSPIRITS

It says that third time is the lucky charm,or the deffinitive confirmation for any band in it's discography!Dfinitelly THE LEGACY-TWINSPIRITS third album is the most mature,complex and complete album to date!It's sensational under all aspects-composition-performance- sound-production- and it proves the amazing talent and inspiration of this impressive Italian prog metal band!Daniele Liverani-the mastermind,main composer and instigator of this project must be proud to accomplish another true masterpiece in 2011!THE LEGACY is absolutelly one of the most important albums of the year in prog metal and if we try to find a single weak point of it,that's really impossible !From the point of view of the composition,this album is the expression of a huge talent of one of the most accomplished and mature musicians in today's music-DANIELE LIVERANI-and each album of this wonderful musician is a prove that God was very generous with him and he spreads to the world this heavenly gift!All the musicians in the band are aces on their instruments ,the solid sound and performance of them is making a great audition of THE LEGACY!The musical standards set by TWINSPIRITS were so high since the impressive debut album THE MUSIC THAT WILL HEAL THE WORLD,which made serious waves in the prog metal community.Then THE FORBIDDEN CITY was a major step ahead in the history of the band - showing the new vocalist-the extremelly talented Goran Nystrom-and THE LEGACY is making again history,giving TWINSPIRITS serious arguments to be considered the leeading band in Italian prog metal league!!THE ENDLESS SLEEP-the monumental track of the album is s true masterpiece itself-a sensational composition,with fascinating twists and an unbeliebeble imagination of the moments included in a such complex track,which is offering a amazing soundscapes and perspectives to the listeners!Definitelly here we have the best vocals ever "produced" by Nystrom-trully impressive and convincing!In each register this guy shines and he's better and better,album after album showing a huge potential!Liverani's interventions are fantastic-modern keyboard sounding-and we feel the great alchemy between all the musicians in the band!Ermolli's solos are ferocious and diverse-from power metal riffs to great sensitive guitar interventions-very skilled and diverse indeed!Rigoni's bass work is efficient and perfect like a Swiss clock!Ciccioni's drumming work is stellar,this guy is a human rhythm machine-trully impressive at any level of expression-in double pedal drumming or sensitive interventions! Overall a blistering album that exceeds all the expectations-THE LEGACY is the best album of the Italians so fat,without any doubt!TWINSPIRITS are a sure European value in prog metal and the future looks really beautiful and bright for this very,very talented and competitive band!All my respect and admiration to this amazing band and well deserved 4.75 STARS for something almost perfect!

Italian band Twinspirits was formed and is lead by keyboard player Daniele Liverani. From the writings I've seen on the bands homepage as well as some citations other places it seems he's a pretty well known guy. But don't despair if you aren't familiar with him though, neither was I before I got this CD to review. Anyhow, this is Liverani's band; and he has made a band with mostly younger musicians. The musicians are all talented, vocalist Sören being the raw talent, guitarist Tommy sounding like a more developed one, and the rest of the guys in between those two on the development ladder.

Musically it seems like the band, or perhaps the band leader, is on a mission to fuse melodic hard rock and prog metal into a new type of music, trying to make what I'd suggest should be called progressive hair metal. Which I'm all for personally, as this kind of music would certainly boost the commercial appeal of progressive music. Although the end result probably won't heal the world when it has been fully developed, it may bring some much wanted healing to the Billboard charts.

As for musical inspiration, AOR and melodic hair metal can be named in general, and the metal bits here mainly seems to come from Dream Theater; although Iron Maiden and Manowar seems to be bands this group are familiar with as well.

The end result on this release are songs that are highly melodic, where the synths are ever- present in the soundscapes, underscoring guitars as well as floating above the other instruments in the mix, strengthening melody lines and creating at times really epic- sounding moods. The guitars gives us nice melodies when played acoustically, short and drawn out chords as well as slow to mid-paced riffs and riff patterns. The guitar sound has been polished well, even when playing some rather gritty sounding riffs there's hardly any raw edges to the sound, resulting in a sound that is commercially appealing to non- metalheads while still sounding interesting enough to the metal fans.

Still, this album ends up as being more promising than good, though. Some elements are still lacking here.

One of the weak points here are the vocals. Sören has a nice voice, but he needs to develop it. Very much a raw talent; it's fairly easy to tell that he has the makings of a very good general purpose rock vocalist that could sing ballads as well as aggressive metal tracks with ease. It's just as easy to hear that he has a fair amount of work that needs to be done before he'll do it well all the time.

Another element that is lacking is good songs. Most of the songs here contain quite a few very good elements, some real good atmospheres, moods and licks are to be found. The chorus sections are rather weak though, and some elements seem to be rather pointless as well. The main weakness of the songs here are the length, though. When most songs stretch beyond the 7 minute mark, the songs should contain some pretty strong moods and atmospheres to stay interesting, and too much repetition of themes will become boring for many listeners.

There's much talent and lots of promise on this release, but for me this band isn't quite there yet - nice try, but no cigar. Yet. It'll be very interesting to see what this band has developed into next time around, though. There's enough talent and skill here for this band to end up as a commercial giant sometime in the future.

Twinspirits , this italian prog metal band with their second album to date, release at Lion music last year - 2009 named The forbidden city. This album must be one of the deseppointed releases from 2009 from my collection. I was expecting something better, and instead I get an usual , almost boring power metal album with keybords added here ad there. If the first album was a very good one, showing a good debute with intristing ideas, this second offer is almost an mediocre album. The arrangements, the guitar solos, everything is good but damn usual, I heared this version hundred times before on hundred bands. A new member arrived on this album, again a non italian singer, I guess the main man of the band Liverani has a special atraction to forign vocalists, after all is his choice, this new voice of Goran Nystrom is ok, but too unpolished , and very predictable arrangements. I don't see him as the best vocalist from the band, I prefer the former one, who was more versatile and has a better range for Twinspirits music. Anyway if the voice is ok in places, some great parts here and there,are boring to death and only the instrumental passages save the album to be a total average one. Teh arrangements are ok, but to predictable and too usual if not unintristing verall. The sound is cristal clear, this is a good thing of course,, but doesn't save the album to became only one or two spining releases from my collectiuon from 2009. The best pieces, are the opening track, The Forbidden City , nearly 11 min, from it sox are totaly unintristing, but the first 3 min of the piece is very good, the instrumental one BTR, absolutly the best piece from here, showing that they still mean bussines in this prog metal field, not enough for me from the whole album, but very strong instrumental arrangements, and I think that all, the rest are from ok to average, not necesarly bad but with lack of choerence in song writting and with no originaluty at all, not even in keybords section and guitr where Liverani always shines on his every project involved, but not here. So, overall I will give 2.5 rounded to 3, I rounded up becaus e I like the band, and the musicians of Twinspirit, each one has great skills but this this time they didn't used properly like on their first album. A good album overall in the end, 3 stars but with indulgence. Sad but if the next album will sound like this Forbidden city , I tell you I will forget about this band for good, and I'm not saying only to fill the box, I'm damn irritaited by this forgetable album by one of the best bands from young generation in prog metal.

All the staples of the progressive metal genre are present, but Twinspirits knows how to pull back just enough so as not to overwhelm the listener (well, sometimes). The band is impeccably tight and the production is unimpeachable. While the electric guitar remains the most important instrument, the keyboardist adds very much to the overall sound. With a few exceptions (some for better, some for worse), the compositions themselves are average progressive metal works with nothing innovative or unique to offer. One source of displeasure is the vocals though; it isn't that the guy cannot sing, but rather I simply don't care for his voice at all. Fans of Dream Theater's Falling Into Infinity are highly encouraged to see what Twinspirits is doing.

"The Forbidden City" Deep piano and various other keyboards move around one another until the obligatory distorted guitar rushes in. The lead synthesizer sounds so much like a violin that it had me fooled for a while. This is by far my favorite song on the album- well done!

"Taste the Infinity" Delicate piano and soon a deep baritone begin the second work. The acoustic guitar lead is an especially nice touch.

"Number One" Perhaps one of the most laughably unoriginal metal songs I've heard in years, this has terrible vocals and lame guitar charging through the whole time. "Number One" is definitely a track to pass.

"Everything" Fortunately, the keyboards return here even if the uninspired guitar must remain, but to be fair, the latter isn't nearly as bad as it was on the previous track.

"One of Us" Heavy guitar and a thin synthesizer lead begin this one, which has a pleasing organ hanging out in the background adding substance to the sound.

"BTR" The electric guitar and drums provide the beastly side of the piece, while the keyboards offer a gentler touch, with both of them warring it out in a great musical display. The solo piano is gorgeous as it invites a decently-executed lead guitar passage. This is an above-average instrumental that for some reason reminds me a bit of Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

"Hide This Feeling" Lovely acoustic guitar introduces the best vocal performance of the album, largely because it includes a woman who, while very good singing on her own, serves to offset the deep voice of the lead vocalist. Admittedly, it does become a bit of a cheesy power ballad toward the end, but it is still an enjoyable song.

"My Future" After a dynamic introduction, stark piano and that baritone are paired up alone until the heavy guitar and keyboards come in- a lackluster song.

"Reaction" This composition is a return to the goodness of the beginning after the many dry spots in the middle of the album. It features a clear, solid, strong series of melodies and easy-to-follow chord progressions.

"I Am Free" The final track offers the most aggressive guitar and vocals, such that this piece sounds completely unlike anything that came prior. Barked and angry lyrics, overdriven guitars, and constant double-bass drumming produces a barrage of sound, and even the keyboard playing is over-the-top. In fact, I would say that the entire piece is over-the-top, especially given the operatic final few minutes.

4.5 STARS!!!! Fantastic second album for this so talented band from la bella ITALIA!!!A giant step forward,to be honest,compared to the already excellent debut album THE MUSIC THAT WILL HEAL THE WORLD!Every track of the album is memorable and the new vocalist is 200 % superior to the very good previous one.Goran Nystrom is really impressive on all tracks,but definitelly shines on HIDE THIS FEELING!He has something that makes suddenly TWINSPIRITS music more interesting than other ordinary prog metal bands!And TWINSPIRITS are not at all ordinary.Au contraire,they have a perfect maturity of composition-which is more than normal,because mastermind DANIELE LIVERANI is "guilty":about the musical ideas of the album!He is surrounded by very competitive musicians,and the whole band has the perfect form of a modern progressive metal combo!The production is huge and each instrument is perfectly mixed,giving perfect oportunities to each guy in the band to prove their tremendeous talents and they offer to the prog metal music lovers something of high quality!THE FORBIDDEN CITY title track opens the album in great style and proves once again that "second time is better!"!!!We have massive guitar riffs from Tommy Ermolli -a heavenly gifted guitar player,sensational bass lines from Alberto Rigoni-a high caliber bass player,some blastering drum tempos from Dario Ciccioni and in the end ,the wonderful keyboard sounds from Daniele Liverani- a true musical genius responsable for other musical projects like COSMICS,KHYMERA,EMPTY TREMOR or the impressive GENIUS-A ROCK OPERA .Above all,the vocalist Goran Nystrom,a true secret weapon,a shining diamond ,a great voice!Without any doubt ,the bet is won 200 %.Sinceres congratulations for such an inspired band,for such a beautiful album ,a true highlight in prog metal albums in 2009!FORZA ITALIA!!!

Twinspirits is a young band from Italy who playes prog metal. Lead by the keybordis Daniele Liverani from defunct Empty Tremor (another italian prog metal band, disbanded now), Twinspirits acomplished in one album since now that other prog metal bands only succeded in years of career. The album was release at MusicLion in 2007 and was a big discovery for me last year, among the best proog metal albums in years in this scene, both musicaly and lyricaly. Also the master behind the LionMusic - Lars Eric Mattsson - is their executiv producer aswell, so another thing that worth investigate this album. The album flows from shifting moods with solid musicianship to mellow elements incorporate in their metal sound as a whole. Great are key passages made by the main man of the band Daniele Liverani, excellent are aswell the duo between him and the guitarist Tommy Ermolli. The singer, he has a germanic name, more danish, so I don't think his italian - Søren Adamsen - did a great job here, of course his is not among the top vocalists around in prog metal, but he fits very well in this kind of music, he remind me sometimes with the one from Empty Tremor or in place with the singer from Vanden Plas, but not a copy. So the best pieces are all, with a plus one the opening track Projected, an instrumental track that shows what you gonna get from this album, greatness and top musichianship. My second fav piece is the slow one, What You Want - amazing piece, simple and haunting, the rest are also very ok. If you want to discover young bands in prog metal try this one, you want be deseppointing for sure, to me was a real pleasure the whole album. Similar bands, Empty Tremor, Madsword, Vanden Plas. Recommended, not a masterpiece but with some hope the next album will get that status. 4 stars for sure.

Same as the Marco Sfogli release I bought this album thanks to listening to the stream tracks on progarchives when I was checking out all progmetalbands. This was one of the better ones so I went to the store for it.

I have to say, now that I heard the entire album several times it's not really what I expected. And that's surprising because they had at least half the album put on stream here so I had the opportunity to get a good idea of what it has to offer. That's partly due to the fact they put the best tracks on stream and also because I haven't really been very critical when I was judging. Not that I'm extremely disappointed about the whole thing and want to call it poor because that's not quite the case. Maybe I should have been more aware of the vocals of this band because they spoil a lot of the fun for me. This is not really good singing to me, it's more like screeching most of the time. It sounds forced as if it costs a lot of effort. The rest of the performing isn't bad at all, at least this is true prog metal with enough progressive elements to be in this category. The compositions are pretty complex at times and provide listening pleasure but I do have the feeling they could grow in this department.

I hope they do and give priority to the instrumental passages in their music. Maybe they can grow towards the 4 star league in that case. For now it will have to be 3 stars (3,25).

Interesting release from this Italian band.

It seems like they are trying to fuse the genres melodic hard rock and prog metal on this release, and to some degree they are successfull doing that as well.

It's all very melodic, and the metal bits have been polished so that the music will be accessible to a larger crowd, while still being of interest to metal fans.

What's lacking are good songs - or perhaps better song editing, and a better vocalist. Lots of promise and talent here, some work on song writing and song structuring, and this band may indeed make music that will heal the world.