SHADOW GALLERY

Excellent debut album from this complex progressive metal band from USA! A band I enjoyed very much from the beginning. Over 10 years ago, someone (a good friend of mine) recorded this album for me on a tape and did a good thing, because I discovered an extraordinary band. I remember I had listened that tape over and over again in the next year. Soon after that I bought Carved in Stone and Tyranny.

The self-titled album traces the general direction the members took from the start: a very epic music style, mostly seen on long-format songs and very complex musical structures. The music seems to be very simple and intimate at the first audition. The voice of Mike Baker is very warm and expressive, inspiring the epic music of the band. We have splendid combinations of heavy-metal guitar riffs, nice keyboards, flute (on Dark Town) and acoustic guitars. Very epic are Dark Town, The Final Hour, Say Good-Bye to the Morning and The Queen.... Questions at Hand is a heavy song and the guitar riffs and speed metal drumming; the voice of baker climbs very high. For me, the special track, if I'd have to choose one is Mystified. Having the aura of a nice and picturesquely ballad, the theme is that of a broken heart. The sound is almost sublime (keyboards are very majestically here...). The atmosphere of the disc is like a story, an old one, and it is reaching the point of a fairy-tale on The Queen of the City of Ice, the most epic song from the album. Long acoustic guitar interludes and atmospheric keyboards are introducing the story whom main character is a queen from a cold and frozen realm. Nice chorus and a beautiful narrative part are making the story complete. The album is very high and not to be ignored, talking about sound, musical structures and complexity of ideas.

I find it very hard to rate this album. I would not go so far to rate 5 stars, because the album isn't brilliant and even if the band tends to be very very progressive, this thing is very well observed on the next album Carved in Stone. IMO, this album remains an excellent one for progressive metal lovers. Recommended!!!