SILVER KEY

The aggressive opener "A Common Soldier" tries to express in music and words the will to react to the misfortunes of life by fighting adversities to escape from the black shadows of an ominous fate. In the first part the war against the destiny rages on while the second part is calmer and reflects some painful memories from the difficult childhood of the protagonist... Then it's the turn of "V.R.", a track with a strong synthetic sound that deals with virtual reality and the powers and dangers of unbridled imagination...

Next comes "Ulysses" that begins by a dreamy piano pattern and soaring vocals before taking different musical directions. It tries to describe an endless virtual journey on the internet where, like Homer's hero, the protagonist is tempted by deceiving mermaids and eventually gets lost, caught in a shining web made of tricky ads and other traps...

The dark, nightmarish "I Wish" is about the insane, compelling instincts that sometimes drive evil doers and the impossibility to control them while the following "Last Love" is calmer and deals with the crazy addiction to a hopeless love...

The last track "Back To The Present" is a long, complex suite divided into five parts (A Rude Awakening - Back To The Present - Murder - Endless War - The Door Shuts) that resumes the story of a madman locked up in a psychiatric hospital. The first part, tense and full of dark energy, tells of the sudden awakening of the protagonist who can't exactly remember what happened to him but still feels an uncontrollable rage and has to be sedated... The second part is calmer and completely instrumental, then on the third section theatrical vocals come back to dig out hidden memories. There's the murder of a woman and probably it was not the first one... The fourth part brings up other painful memories like the moment when the protagonist was fired and lost his job and the loss of his mother... The last part closes the album with a short narrative part showing the satisfaction of the medical staff who are sure to have found the right cure for their patient and the way to control his instincts. Eventually, after a tense instrumental passage, you can hear again the desperate voice of the protagonist saying "I have no hope".

On the whole, a good work with some interesting ideas.

'Third' was released in April of 2019. The album consists of 10 tracks spanning a total time of 51 minutes. The first three tracks exceed 7 minutes. 'A Common Soldier' begins very atmospheric and spooky sounding, but soon moves to an upbeat track. There are some interesting harmonics and the vocals aren't too bad as they promote an intriguing theme. There are some good keyboard riffs spread out through the first part of the track. The instrumental break has some gunfire effects and a great extended guitar solo. At about 6 minutes, everything breaks down to a slow piano/vocal section, and the vocal, while remaining strong, still suffers a bit on the quieter passage, but there are some similarities to Fish's vocals. 'V.R.' continues using keyboards to produce Marillion style music, but to great effect. In sections of this track, there are some evil sounding spoken vocals against a funky guitar riff. Vocals are better again, though not exactly perfect, they adequately make the Neo Prog designation correct with their Marillion inspired sound. There is another great guitar solo in the last half before it returns to the vocal melody again. 'Ulysses' begins as a beautiful piano led track with a soft synth. Vocals soon join in, but seem to be much better with this quieter passage. Soon, the music gets more complex and progressive, the vocal theme gets much more progressive. There are some wordless vocals behind the main vocals that give the song an eerie sound. Meters change often in this track and the mood remains dark.

The excellent use of keyboards and guitar continues through the album, with an ever changing display of moods, meters, great effects and musicianship throughout. 'I Wish' has some really great mood changes and a killer synth solo. 'Last Love' is a swirling and romantic sounding track, but there really isn't much that is standard about it, which gives it a unique sound, especially for a track that is not as complex. There are places where vocals falter a bit, but this isn't very distracting. The atmospheric guitar solo in the 2nd half is absolutely exquisite.

The remaining 5 tracks are all under 5 minutes each and each track flows into the next one, just like a suite. 'A Rude Awakening' has a more straightforward rhythm and is quite accessible, that is until 2:30, when it shifts gears into a heavy sound and a dark vocal that shifts from the vocalists high range which is yelled out to a deep evil low register. This alternates back and forth and goes right into 'Back to the Present' which is immediately brighter instrumental with a synth playing the melody and a soft textural back ground and a moderate rhythm. In the second half of the song, the guitar takes over the solo. 'Murder' takes off right away with some off key vocals, but it's all meant to sound evil. I think they overreach a bit with this one, but it has quite a rousing guitar solo later. 'Endless War' continues with the dark vocals and a heavy tone. There are some strange harmonies here, but I think it is at least a bit better than the prior track. The last track is 'The Door Shuts'. It begins with an electronic spoken word vocal. After that finishes, the music goes into a thick electronic and symphonic sound and finishes up with a guitar improvisation.

The first 5 songs, which actually take up most of the album and consist of the longer tracks is the strongest part of the album. These tracks are full of progressiveness and inventiveness with a strong Neo-prog sound. The last 5 tracks are the shorter ones, and seem to be tied by as a suite. Its good these are shorter tracks as it is the weaker part of the album, but I don't think that it drags the album down too much because the first part of the album is that good. Anyway, this is easily a 4 star album and should be listened to if only for the first 5 tracks.

The committed opener "Screams Behind The Whispers" is a melodic track with a strong leaning to AOR. It's a warning against the power of media and the false appearances they conjure up, the music and lyrics invite you to look behind the curtains and to fight against the serpents huddled in the backstage of an unscrupulous political world?

Then comes the dreaming "Stargazing" that could recall Marillion and depicts in music and lyrics a strange gathering of cats on the city roofs and their mysterious concert to the stars? "For the cat is cryptic, and close to strange things which men cannot see. He is the soul of antique Aegyptus, and bearer of tales from forgotten cities? The Sphinx is his cousin, and he speaks her language; but he is more ancient than the Sphinx, and remembers that which she hath forgotten..." (quote from The Cats Of Ulthar by H.P. Lovecraft).

The nervous "A.S.I. (The Singularity)" is a bitter-sweet reflection about God and technology where a new omniscient, mocking creature rises from silicon and circuits like in a video-game. Then it's the turn of "Event Horizon" where the music and lyrics try to describe the moment when you have to face your ghosts right in the eyes. It's the point of no return where space and time get blurred in the event horizon of an irreversible change in your life... Neo prog with a nice, jazzy middle section and a pinch of drama!

The long, complex "The Screams Empire" is a suite divided into four parts (I. Random Frequencies, II. The Arrival, III. A Quest In Time and IV. Resistance). It tells about the invasion of the Earth by peculiar alien beings, cruel reptiles that take control of the human race in a new empire where you have to scream louder than everyone else to rule and gather followers. The beautiful art work by Daniele Aimasso should give you an idea of the content of this interesting piece...

The final track "Adrift" is a heartfelt, melodic ballad that tells of the feelings of an astronaut lost in space, adrift on his starship. The music and lyrics here deal with regret and nostalgia and depict the lost words from a haunting, overwhelming past that come up riding the waves of the thoughts of the protagonist. For this piece the band shot an evocative video directed by Marcella Savino?

On the whole, a very good album!

Either way, The Screams Empire isn't actively bad, it's just lukewarm - neo-prog music that's just kind of there and doesn't really do anything especially exciting. Hopefully they will pull it together again for their next release.

"Calm, lasting beauty comes only in dream, and this solace the world had thrown away when in its worship of the real it threw away the secrets of childhood and innocence... There are twists of time and space, of vision and reality, which only a dreamer can divine...". (H.P. Lovecraft, from "The Silver Key"). Well, the band was named after the title of a short story by H.P. Lovecraft and I think that this short quote along with the beautiful art cover by Claudio Bergamin could introduce you to Silver Key's work better than all my words.

The evocative, dreamy title track, "In the Land of Dreams", opens the album inviting you to look at the world as it is in your dreams, even if it's very difficult at times. The following "More Than I Can" is darker and reminds you that life is too short for all the things you would like to do. Next comes "Learn To Let Go" which is about the need to break free from the chains of your worries and fears to escape from the daily grind. After comes "Millennium" that begins softly, then the music and lyrics conjure up apocalyptic visions with black clouds of fiery angels pouring down from the sky.

"The Silver Key" is the main course of the album. It's a long, complex suite featuring lyrics inspired by the literary works of H.P. Lovecraft and R.W. Chambers. The silver key opens the gates of a fantastic dreamland but as we grow up we risk to lose our capacity to enter the realms of dreams. In this sumptuous suite the music and lyrics try to take us on a dangerous journey through forgotten memories and dark, fantastic cities, in a quest for our lost innocence.

The conclusive "Welcome" begins with a delicate piano pattern. It's a bitter-sweet ballad that blends hope and regret with a strong sense of melody... "I welcome myself / Standing on the edge of what I'm going to be / I welcome my death...".

On the whole a very good album, especially recommended if you like bands such as The Watch.

"In The Land Of Dreams" is an hour of bright well made Neo-Prog, sure to please fans of the classic approach of this subgenre. That much should be clear right from the opening title track. I'm not sure I'd completely define this as 'retro neo-prog' though. The sound Silver Key have made here feels a lot more based in modern rock to me. That's not to say the sound of "In The Land Of Dreams" isn't heavily influenced by the classic 80s neo bands of yore (because it is), but there is enough of a modern streak to it that you can easily recognise it.

The album is packed full of melodic guitar solos and the fiddly keyboard solos, as well as the classic synth sounds you might expect. What was more of a surprise was the amount of excellent bass work (for example the solo in "Learn To Let Go", or the opening of "Millenium"), and it was very welcome. Influence from Marillion, IQ, Pendragon and so forth can be heard throughout, and there are even reminiscences of some newer bands, such as Celpsydra (which is probably down to an 'Italian factor').

The highlight for me is "Millenium", a dark exploration of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. This song came right after "Learn To Let Go", which was lyrically a rather clumsy song. This meant that when I heard the harrowing clips that introduced "Millenium" I was a bit worried Silver Key would not be skilled enough to handle the sensitive subject matter. Turns out I was wrong, and actually they pull out the best performance of the album for this one, and offer a striking and evocative song to us.

The 26 minute suite, "The Silver Key", is another obvious highlight, though it's a bit more mixed. There are parts that are really great and epic, especially the powerful finale. There are also more thoughtful low key sections that I also enjoy. Some of the heavier guitar parts stand out as well. However, I'm not sure that "The Silver Key" feels like one song; it's quite segmented, and some of the parts noticeably disrupt the musical flow. Still plenty to enjoy though.

What I'm not quite sold on is the vocals. They are handled competently but can sound a little awkward to my ears at times, and don't provide the best framing for some of the more awkward lyrics. I also find the choruses are in general a bit hit-and-miss, and can stray into generic territory at times. It's not a huge deal though, and I would expect that a lot of people wont find this much of a hindrance to their enjoyment of the album.

So, does it measure up to the classic Neo-Prog bands, such as Marillion, IQ and Pendragon? I'm not sure I think it quite does, it just lacks the same kind of impact. But then those bands are some of my absolute favourites. The flip side of this is of course that even a familiar tribute like this is good enough for me to enjoy, and I expect if your tastes are similar to mine then you will also enjoy "In The Land Of Dreams" too.

That's not a slam, mind - just as some retro-prog acts can give the originals a run for their money, so can some retro-neo acts make enjoyable contributions to the genre. Like Credo's Rhetoric, Silver Key's In the Land of Dreams applies the benefit of hindsight to the Marquee-era neo-prog sound, avoiding creative cul-de-sacs and taking things in their own direction. As the band name, album title and track list imply, here and there the band take inspiration from H.P. Lovecraft's horror-fantasy stories of the Dreamlands, but by and large (aside from the acoustic and slightly overlong Dim Carcosa) this doesn't really have much impact on the music, which draws on the likes of early IQ, Marillion and Pendragon and recent Credo - and, perhaps most notably, Jadis, whose sunny tones can be detected on the opening In the Land of Dreams. Yuri Abietta deserves props for his clear and fluent vocals and the band as a whole do a good job, though if you don't have at least some affection for the early neo-prog sound the album's not likely to make you a convert, and if you do it will likely not offer much new.

Here all the production is top notch, and every instruments makes an excellent works, but what I love much are the base line, often busy in intricate solo at start of the epic composition, or in the central parts, and the lush keyboards that prepare the strong melodies for the voice. These are the main focus of the music,and It really makes for a keyboard lovers delight. There are 4 compositions long over 7 minutes and 1 suite of 26 minutes. The suite is really amazing and it contein nine tracks, with the guitars being cranked, the bass booming and the drums becoming more dynamic. All that is tied to spoken word samples and a more poised approach, yet still the glorious key work never eases, leaving you totally beguiled and convinced by the sumptuous full sound.

Excellent album, fully of shadings and brillant ideas that will makes enthusiastic all progressive rock lovers for several time, highly recomended. 5 stars