Who Likes Shadow Gallery?

 Great band! I was so impressed with 'Room V' that I now wish I had checked them out before. I think it was because I didn't see any of their albums in stores but I had read good things about them. They kinda remind me of what made Dream Theater so good before, especially now that DT aren't so good anymore...

Evolver wrote: OK. I listened to it this morning. It's not quite as bad as I remembered. But not great. Kind of like Kansas around the time of "Power".  Mundane songwriting with flashes of interesting instrumentation.  It doesn't suck, but I wonder why anyone could worship these guys.

Don't base your opinion on their earlier work.They have matured quit a bit into an amazing band.Try the concept album Tyranny,the story from that album is continued on their newest release Room V(a brilliant cd).

I found "Carved In Stone" in a cutout bin in an outlet mall 2 years ago.

It didn't impress me then.  I'll give it another go.

I received a lot of undeserved praise here - it takes very little to stand up for someone on the Internet. Still, thank you, Progmaniaczka and Eugene. It's also good to have the situation cleared up and to see that no harm had been intended or done.

Re Shadow Gallery, I really like "Legacy" and if the other albums are even better... well...

Are they great in a more objective meaning of the word? Probably not. "Legacy" has its flaws, for example I still fail to hear an organising principle in "First Light" (sorry, Bionic Commando), to me it just sounds like a few very good, but unrelated songs glued together quite arbitrarily. And yeah, from the admittedly very little I heard by Birdsongs of the Mezozoic, they are a tough act to beat. It's no wonder that Shadow Gallery can pale in comparison. But this doesn't really change my attitude towards them.

progmaniaczka wrote: Admiration is quite distinct from love isn't it. BTW sorry for not specifying my opinion on Shadow Gallery.. in fact, I've possessed only 1 CD (Room V) [which was called admirable composition by me], although I've also been honoured to listen to Tyranny record.. Why have i dared to call it like this? I'll let You know that by and large, it has managed to capture my imagination (which happens quite seldom) besides, it(their music) is exuberant and at the same time so soft(for me at least), that I've took liking to it very quickly. If i still haven't live up to your expectations (when it comes to my reasoning- sorry in advance). Manunkind it was nice of You. EVERYTHING IS A MATTER OF TASTE <peace>

You don't have to be sorry, especially in advance - very reasonable reasoning of yours. It's just a light conversation, you should not take it too seriously, and never personally. And  Manunkind proved to be very kind indeed. I listened to Room V yesterday night, and now I like it even less than in the beginning. It coincided with me exploring Birdsongs of Mesozoic works, - maybe that's why; but never mind, as you said - "matter of taste". Take it easy and enjoy whatever you like.

Manunkind wrote: eugene wrote: progmaniaczka wrote: I admire them very much, I own only 1 CD , but hope to buy at least one more Just our of curiousity, dear lady, which album is that? The reason for me asking is that I'm trying to comprehend how anyone can "admire something very much" being based on only 1 CD. And what is that in this particular albums which made you fall in love with the band immediately, if you don't mind me asking???   As for myself - I have all of their albums and quite like some of them, but I'm being far from any admiration - just good quality prog-metal...with all usual ups and downs Obviously she wanted to say she admired this one album - I don't see any reason why this harmless imprecision should attract (negative?) attention. On topic - I only own "Legacy", and if it's supposed to be their weakest album then I'm really missing out on something big.

I do not think you are missing out on something really great. IMO Carved In Stone is better than Legacy, and Tyranny is their best, and Room V is their weakest. But again, it's down to musical taste and preferences.

I did not mean to be negative whatsoever, and fail to understand where in my post you see it. But word "admire" certainly gets my attention, as to me it sounds very deep and profound, and being not able to share this feeling towards Shadow Gallery, I was curious about this "admiration" phenomenon. Realising that poster is a woman, I tried to be as polite as I possibly can. But you seem to have stood up for a lady, and although same was not necessary (as no one was attempting to attack her), this fact alone describes you as perfect gentleman, which is very nice to notice.