MOONTOWER

This album has convinced me that prog-metal IS the future of prog and its spiritual home is in Scandinavia. Whereas the UK was the homeland of classic-prog it has to be recognised that the frozen hinterland of Northern Europe is where its at as far as exciting, exhilirating, energetic and entertaining music is concerned. Dan Swano is a multi-instrumental-uber-meister and the driving force behind many musical projects including Bloodbath,Edge of Sanity and Nightingale, and on this album he does EVERYTHING. 'Sun of the Night' is the opening track and it has excellent guitar and synthesiser, it also reminded me of Opeth. It may therefore come as no surprise to learn that Swano produced a couple of Opeth's albums. This track is one of the most impressive intro's I have heard and it will have you hooked immediately. Track two 'Patchworks' continues the onslaught and as in track one features Swano's growling vocals. Now I don't know where you stand regarding these type of vocals, but I found it fairly easy to get used to them on Opeth's 'Ghost Reveries' and they are equally accessible here. Keep an open mind, this guy is extremely talented and the sheer class of his musicianship should be enough to have you hooked. 'Uncreation' is the third song and completes a barn-storming, kidney-punching, head-butting opening. Track four 'Add Reality' features piano at the beginning, lulling you into thinking that we may be entering a sensitive phase - sorry,wrong - what we have is another powerful song which has passages of clean vocals from Swano. He sings entirely clean vocals with Nightingale, and he has a truly excellent voice. 'Creating Illusions' is another great track, excellent playing and it brings us nicely to 'The Big Sleep' which has an excellent synth-opening, and outstanding guitar, a common feature of songs on this masterpiece. 'Encounterparts' is an instrumental, intricate in places and sonically stunning in others. Before you know it, we reach the final track 'In Empty Phrases'. It has really nice synthesiser and guitar and rounds off things well. This album is a must- have and you will be mightily impressed that it is all down to one man. Unmissable.