PARALLEL LIVES

I purchased the band´s debut album "The Seventh Sign (2003)" when it was released because I had heard rumours of guitarist/ main composer Torben Enevoldsen´s considerable guitar shredding skills and that album did me a pretty good listening experience even though the generally hard rocking metal/ power metal style on that album wasn´t exactly innovative. Enevoldsen´s solos occasionally made the album shine and the high level of musicianship wasn´t bad either. The compositions were solid but unfortunately also a bit formulaic and unfortunately the same can be said about "Parallel Lives".

The music is still traditional styled metal/ power metal/ with a few progressive elements like the jazzy keyboard in "Moment of Truth" but generally you have to look a very long time for progressive elements on the album. Enevoldsen´s guitar solos are, as the case was on the debut album, the greatest asset on the album. Fast and furious yet melodic. They are unfortunately the only highlight on the album. The compositions are just as formulaic and trivial as it was the case on the debut but there seem to be even fewer standout moments on "Parallel Lives". The vocals are hard rock/ power metal styled but not of the extremely high pitched kind. Andy Engberg is as such a strong vocalist but I´m not especially fond of his voice or singing style. The tracks feature lots of keyboards but they are mostly used to support the guitar driven songs and work as polish. There are some female vocals in the track "Awakening" which is nice for the variation on the album.

The production is professional and polished.

"Parallel Lives" is all in all too filled with clichés and generic compositions to really lift it above mediocrity. It´s too bad because the musicianship and the professional sound production could have carried the music far. A 2 - 2.5 star rating is deserved.

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