ZANTEA CHRONICLES: THE DREAM DOMINATOR

Led by Antonis Adelfidis, Forbidden Myth tells in their debut album, "Zantea Chronicles : The Dream Dominator", an epic story about the eternal struggle between good (the young Sirin) and the hidden forces of evil (Vosar). An extensive work that in more than a hundred minutes is imaginatively divided into two great phases, gloomy for the most part and hopeful towards the end. Without guitars or bass as part of their musical proposal, the Greeks manage to round off a conceptual album sustained by a wide range of keyboards, from classical piano to digital synthesizers, with a great variety of vocal registers given the eight singers summoned for the occasion, and a very good percussion performance.

Right at the beginning of the first part, the intriguing "Overture of Loss" and its airs of the most experimental moments of Porcupine Tree, plunges into a tense and disturbing atmosphere full of sonic elements, always in the hand of synthesizers that trace the path that will be maintained throughout the album, framed by a persistent melancholic character even in its most intense developments. Moments of deep darkness run as with "Light's Predominance", or in the revealing "The Luminescent Girl" whose keyboards resemble the sounds of guitar riffs, or with the mid-tempos of the tempting "The Puppeteer", the initial hammond of the stabbing "Rotting King", or with the accelerated and changing "City of Decay", one of the most forceful pieces.

On the other hand, the final part of the album contains shades of disillusionment and hope, such as the revealing "A Ring Between Her Eyes" and its interesting piano solo, the opening chords of "Dreams` Prisoner" and its peaceful female voice, the determined "Sirin Ablaze", the trepidant "King of the World / The Eyes of a Stranger" in another of the highlights, and the conclusive and victorious "Epilogue of Forgiveness", which closes the story emotionally.

The very interesting "Zantea Chronicles: The Dream Dominator", although it would surely have gained more vitality with the combustion that the guitars generate and that the bass contribution usually underpins, shows the solid musical structure of Forbidden Myth, and its enormous potential to keep growing.

3/3,5 stars