THE MIRACLE

— First review of this album —

The first time I heard that The Miracle was about to release an album, I did not expect much about the news. Why? In relatively short period (less than 6 months) after I saw them playing an awesome gig at 1st Anniversary of i-Rock! - the Indonesian biggest rock community todate - a t Mario's Place, Jakarta on August 2007 and then they were going to release an album in early 2008? Give me a break, man! How could they do that - having known that they are Dream Theater cover band? But .. they proved it by soft-launching the debut album in CD format sometime in December 2007, with their own material - not a cover. It seemed they started writing their own while playing cover. I was curious about the album. When I got the CD from Posan, I was not impressed at first spin and decided myself to be quiet for such a relatively long period. Well, you know, I know all members of the band and key people who made this album. I did not really want to make comments that kill them. I was in a difficult situation in which I was not blown by the first spin of the CD (which is actually a bad sign) while I did not want to discourage their hard work. But that's the challenge being a music reviewer, isn't it? You cannot please everyone, in fact your closest friend! When I started my music writing career in 2004, I stated firmly to myself that my review is how I feel about the music and what I think about it - regardless who plays the music. And I still want to be as free as I can be - regardless what others say about it.

So, let's make a deal here. What I am writing is basically what I personally think about the music. In doing so, I am risking my good relationship with those involved in the making of the album. I'd rather face it because my intention is truly making a "fair" review. But I am sure that they must love a fair review, even though it's very personal and subjective. Why? Because they are progheads! As proghead, you have to be open with others' opinion, don't you think?

Let's have a look in a great detail .

The Music

Yes, I admire the band as Dream Theater cover - and they are excellent. But with their own album? I doubted about it. I then forced myself to spin the CD repeatedly and finally I find why I was not impressed at first spin of the band. It's pretty simple: I hate the first singing passage when the vocal enters the first track, i.e. when Chemmy sings "Mawar hitam .".oh what a disappointing low register notes they use to open the song that actually has a beautiful guitar riffs at intro part. I mean, this song is actually beautiful, but the first singing style has made it down, for my personal taste. They can actually start with something uplifting to maintain the beautiful riffs they start in intro. The tagline melody of this song-orientated track is quite catchy. Yessi inserts his keyboard effects while Chemmy sings followed by Fisal heavy guitar riffs typical prog metal style but in nicer and softer way. The song moves in crescendo and combines good riffs and music flow with some insertion of Faisal's short guitar solo. What I really love about this song is when Yessi starts his piano solo at approx 3:42. Oh yes . this is truly wonderful and they show their own identity here. Short but beautiful! At approx 4:32 the music turns into break which I finally realize that they insert something pretty similar with Dream Theater's "The Great Debate" of Six Degree of Inner Turbulence album. Fortunately, I like it very much even though a bit disappointing due to originality issue.

The second track is my favorite of this album titled as "Bebas". The opening part is not something that I will find it interesting to observe because it's just like a disco track with punches of keyboard loop like you find in house music. But when Chemmy starts with his first verse of the lyrics, it blows me away man! It's not just that his vocal is good but I like the riffs and keyboard work that accompany the singing and also the tagline melody. Not only that which I really love, the part when Chemmy sings "di setiap kesempatan .." at approx 0:43 the accompanying music combines dynamic bass lines, guitar and keyboard in complex way typical Dream Theater's complex riffs. It's presented very nicely by the band. I love the part at approx 2:34 where vocal screams followed by complex and fast tempo riffs followed by short guitar solo. The guitar solo by Faisal is damn excellent man! I love you all guys! This is truly great!

"Bertemu" starts with medium tempo music followed by combination of guitar riffs and nice piano touch. This riff-based song is good in terms of music flow and catchy chorus. In fact, this is the favorite track of my spouse. What I like is the break at approx 1:40 where the music slows down and piano touches accompanies vocal. In fact this part is really "original" in terms of the band's own identity. As DT freak, of course I like the interlude that starts at approx 2:40. What a great interlude, man! I really love it. Again, Faisal demonstrates his virtuosity in long and satisfying guitar solo. Bravo! The keyboard that inserts in approx 3:44 is very Jordan Rudess. It's an excellent track!

"Matahari" is a ballad which starts with a nice and catchy piano solo followed by vocal line. You might associate this nice song with Dream Theater's "Another Day". The band's hit is actually next track "Dosa" which the opening part starts with "The Great Debate" nuance followed with an upbeat music inserted with keyboard's punches. This song reached Top 10 of local FM radio station hits. It has catchy melody and nice riffs with great interlude. So long that I have not heard any local band that "dares" to play long interlude, long guitar solo or keyboard solo. I salute the band for doing so!

"Pergi" is a mellow track with great piano work and low register notes on vocal. The way Chemmy sings at higher notes reminds me to Harry Roesli. In fact, this track reminds me to the mellow music of Harry Roesli. The combined acoustic guitar and piano work is nice. "Kembali" starts off with acoustic guitar fills. The piano work that starts at 2:35 is also nice, followed with acoustic guitar solo. This track is quite original in terms of influence from Dream Theater. Again, Chemmy singing style reminds me to Harry Roesli.

"Selesai" is another excellent track in terms of style and composition. The opening part that comprises music using dynamic work of tom drums, inventive piano work that accompany vocal line is something that Dream Theater has never done. This track is relatively free from Dream Theater's influence and in fact this might not be a progressive metal track. The guitar solo by Faisal as well as orchestration by Fadhil have made this song wonderful. Vedy also provides his tight basslines throughout the song. The reprise "Bertemu" reminds me to the style of music by Kantata Takwa / Samsara with Iwan Fals.

Storyline and lyrics

It seems the album tells about forbidden love especially when I look at the passage "let him make his choice". There is a contradictory message presented here. The album title "The M" does not reflect the storyline concept clearly, but, the lyrics of each song in the album are almost all straightforward and less poetic, less diplomatic, too easy to digest and not inspiring the mind. Well, of course, I am not a good observer in lyric writing but for sure the band seems too obvious in expressing the lyrics. Nothing wrong with it, but the choices of words are too many have been used by pop music. Take example of Pete Sinfield of King Crimson who wrote the lyrics for legendary "Epitaph". The words he used were just ordinary words but the phrases in the song have very deep meanings and they make our mind keep thinking about it. The band has to work hard in lyric-writing because this is lacking as far as I can see from this debut album.

Production

I know that producing a progressive metal music is quite a challenging task. And for me personally the best production (marked as perfect with 10 score) in terms of sonic quality in prog music is Genesis "Selling England by The Pound" and Dream Theater "Images and Words". If I compare the sonic quality of this album against them it scores 6. This album fails to produce the subtleties in complex riffs. Also, the sounds of snare drums are bit annoying.

Overall Conclusion

As a debut album, this is a good album especially when the local music industry is now being dominated by pop music and there is a very rare that I can find a song with long guitar solo like The Miracle offers through this album. The music is dominated by Dream Theater influence even though in some track they try to get away from it. This album lacks inspiring lyrics and the band must work very hard to create mind-provoking lyrics. The production is another issue that the band must resolve. But, as a debut album I salute Chemmy, Reza, Vedy, Yessi and Faisal for making it happen! Special thanks to Vedy who wrote my favorite track "Bebas"! You rock man! Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW