LEGACY

3.5 stars, really. I was asked to review this interesting studio band Forward Shapes. Their debut CD Legacy is a very good mix of melodic heavy metal riffing, female vocals and fine symphonic keys. Unlike most of their peers, they do not use much synthesizers preferring to work basically with piano, even at the fastest and heavier parts, which gives them a quite unique signature. While it is clear that the band lacks the tightness of a live experience over the years, the music here is still quite strong and pleasant, showing great promise. There is not one bad track on the whole disc and although Alison Vance vocal parts are not exactly too distinctive (in fact, she sounds like a lot of average Heavy Metal female singers), her voice is nice enough to hold your attention for the whole length of Legacy.

I liked the instrumental parts a lot, even if they bring nothing new: very good guitar lines and solos, some real fine piano and a very professional work by the other musicians. Again, in my humble opinion, the lack of playing together live prevents this album to have the power and dynamics that I fell would give the songs an extra punch to make them more convincing and alive, In other words, the songs are good, the performances are good and the vocals are good, but there are few moments where they are truly outstanding and exciting (like on the instrumental Elusive and the powerful duel solos of guitar and piano on Proclivity) . Certainly they had potential to reach the excellency level (listen to the second part of the album).

Production is top notch.

Conclusion: Legacy is a nice CD, and if you like melodic power metal with a few symphonic touches, you should definitely check this out. I´m looking forward to listen to Forward Shapes next CD.