VOICE IN THE LIGHT

Have you ever though what would happen if Shadow Gallery and Royal Hunt merged into one band? Well, neither have I, but after listening to Amaran's Plight, this is exactly the impression I had, as if both bands were working together in the same album. That really comes to no surprise, considering that the main composers are DC Cooper and Gary Wehrkamp and the outcome of such collaborations was only natural. It is important to note, however, that most of the instrumental work was composed solely by Gary, eventually with a contribution from another person or DC, and that most of the vocal melodies were composed by Gary and DC together.

As one could expect from such partnership, the music they present in Voice of Light is very melodic. I mean, VERY melodic. At times they put other melodic heavy metal bands to shame. But, also as one could also expect, the excessive melodic aspect to their music is overused, what causes the music to be at times to be tiresome and Cooper's vocals do not help at all in changing that whole atmosphere.

Composition-wise, the music isn't bad at all, even though they do abuse on the melodic side of their music from time to time. It is very catchy and fairly easy to listen to, certainly because there is almost nothing new here. Gary didn't took any chances on Voice of Light: everything is quite st.andard for a heavy metal album and the music isn't much adventurous, making it relatively easy to spot things that are commonplace, either from Shadow Gallery's music or from heavy metal in general, through the album. Despite that, Gary manages to keep the music interesting and fun to listen.

The same goes for the vocals. DC Cooper, despite his great tone and everything, does nothing outside the frame that you would expet him to be. If you like his style, great, this performance by him will sound neraly perfect for you, but it would be really good if he could bring new things to the table. So, again, an ordinary performance by these guys standards.

Now, if there is one thing that should be entirely redone here that thing are the lyrics. They are plainly bad for the most part and when they are not bad, they are very cliché. There is simply nothing that couls be salvaged in this regard, they should be completelly changed.

As for the technical part, I don't think I can find a defect worth mentioning. The guitars, keyboards, bass, drums and vocals are all very well played, except some of the fastest guitar passages that sound a bit muddy and the production and mix are very good and bright, making every instrument stand out.

Grade and Final Thoughts

I must confess that I didn't though I would like this album. The result of this kind of melodic music with Cooper's traditionally emotional style and the rather ordinary compositions add up one of the most cheesy and outdated albums I have ever listened. However, the music by itself isn't bad. Yes, it is not the most original thing on the face of the earth, the artists don't go very far from their own personal styles and the sugary melodic metal IS an acquired taste, but that does not make this be a bad album per se.

In fact, repeated listenings prove that this is, in fact, a very fun album to listen to, despite the horrendous lyrics, for all those who like the "traditionally" styled progressive metal.

4 stars.

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