SHAKARY 2006

For those of you who claim as neo prog or symphonic prog music, you should have this double CD Shakary 2006. You might have owned the band's previous albums "The Last Summer" or "Alya" but this one is packaged differently with new recording / mixing and different vocalist - plus guest appearance of Marillion's Steve Rothery and Ayreon's Arjen Lucassen.

A Bit of Background .

This Shakary 2006 2-CD arrived at my address when I got a stack of about 52 CDs and DVDs to enjoy plus some others that I was listening to. Of course, not all of 52 CDs I was listening to. In fact, only part of them (the new one to review) plus all other old collection that I have and already reviewed at this site or other. The CD that I was listening to while enjoying Shakary 2006 includes: Evergrey "Apocalypse Monday", Mastodon, God Bless (Indonesian famous rock band), Guruh Gypsy (Indonesian vintage prog band), Iron Maiden "A Matter of Life and Death", Angra "Temple of Shadows" and "Rebirth", IQ "Dark Matter", ELP "Beyond The Beginning" DVD, Pallas "The Dream of Men", Billy Cobham "Spectrum", Passport, Tool "Lateralus", Scorpions "Fly To The Rainbow" (1974) - the album that colored my childhood, and Explorers Club. You see, how diverse my musical taste is! This is important to mention as you may be able to draw a line why I put the review the way it is. Music is emotion - and giving a review is depending on the "mood". The kinds of music you are listening to at certain period of time will influence the way you view about particular album - so is the case with this Shakary 2006.

The Album Review

Shakary is to me a band that focuses on creating a well composed music combining various musical instruments from electric guitar, bass, drums, keyboard and acoustic equipment: violin, trumpet, flugelhorn. My story with the band started couple of years ago when my neo prog mate, Bowo, lent me "The Last Summer" CD which blew me away at my first spin. And then I tried the "Alya" album - enjoyed it as well. I was lucky that I could get in touch with the band's composer, Scandy, who sent me a copy of Shakary Live CD - thanks, Scandy!

As far as Shakary 2006 album, it did not really attract me at first spin as for me the music moves too slow and too soft (remember, by the time I was listening to this album I got Iron Maiden. Mastodon, ANgra, and Tool!) so I only got the two CDs spun for one time only and put it on the shelf. But then it grew on me as sometime I need to get a break from hard bashing heavy music into soft one with Shakary - and I kept playing it over and over. I started to see the value of this album at approx fourth spin as it might probably I got used to neo prog music.

Disc One: ALYA

CD one is a condensed version of original double-CD album Alya with only 9 tracks (vs 19 tracks of original version) but it represents the key characteristics of the double-CD version.

Sunset (3:08) kicks off the album in the kind of "Overture" music like you can hear from other neo prog band IQ "Subterranea" opening track. They share similar vein. The only different thing with original version is the opening violin part is cut-off but it does not destroy the song itself. This song is important to set the overall tone of the Disc One music. An instrumental piece that creates excellent nuance, delivered in symphonic style.

Lost Angels (6:19) continues the music with vocal line of Noel McCalla (replasing Clepsydra's lead singer). Piano introduces this song, followed with heavy and powerful voice of Noel McCalla. His voice is totally different than what I expected before because I imagined that he was going to sound like Mike Rutherford's "Smallcreep's Day" (1980). It does not mean that his voice is bad, it's just different. This time he sings in low register notes with powerful and transparent voice. Excellent! This track is brilliantly composed with excellent melody. I especially love the ending part that starts at approx min 5:10 where piano and guitar produce really wonderful melody.

Time Trap (5:58) continues seamlessly from previous track with excellent riffs (like a prog met riffs, performed softer) augmented wonderfully with violin! Oh man . if you like King Crimson when David Cross was there, you would love this part! It's really nice and it stirs my emotion! The music - if I'm referencing to IQ Subterranea - is somewhat in the vein of "Tunnel Vision" song. (Do you like IQ? If not, how dare you say that you love prog but do not like IQ? Come on!!! .. Buy "Subterranea" or "Ever"! It's masterpiece man!) Drums also play important part it is played dynamically - reminds me to Phil Collin's style. It's definitely an excellent track.

Alya(4:47). If you are in the right mood, I bet you would have tears in your eyes - not because of imagining the beauty of ALYA but listening to the sheer memorable and touchy melody this song offers! The opening part which starts with soft keyboard followed with acoustic guitar part and violin solo is really killing!!! You wanna bet? Of course, if you have quite sensitive sense about great melody! Because I know, some people would feel normal about it - but it's not for me. The melody is great! Bear with me, say that you don't like melodic song, you should observe this song from the perspective of its composition. It's cool babe .

The First Inquisition (6:06) kicks off with excellent combination of music riffs and dynamic drumming. I think Walter Calloni is one of the best prog drummers. I really enjoy his style. The song combines neo prog with straight hard rock during music interlude, guitar solo with nice breaks through excellent work of keyboard and violin. This song will favor those who love David Cross or Eddie Jobson (UK), or Robbie Steinhardt (Kansas). Giovanni Galfetti plays excellent keyboards.

Sentence (6:10). Well, this track is dedicated to those of you who like the guitar style of Marillion's Steve Rothery (guest appearance). Arjen Lucassen of Ayreon also appears here. It sounds to me like Early Marillion is alive right here with this track. I especially like the double guitar solo as music interlude in the middle of the track. It reminds me also old Genesis days where guitar fills and keyboard collaborate excellently to deliver beautiful composition. I'm sure for some of you this track would become key attraction point of this album. Even though when I compare with original ALYA album (track 2, Disc Two) Lele Hofmann also played wonderful guitar solo work, the appearance of Rothery gives another nuance - plus the double guitar with Arjen, of course!

The Last Drink (7:29) again brings the music style of "Time Trap" with heavy symphonic riffs augmented with dynamic drumming and stunning violin that makes this song become one of the best songs I've ever heard. Even though I'm a bit disappointed when vocal enters but it is then recovered by combination of guitar rhythm / riffs and dynamic keyboard punch. The song maintains its symphonic style from start to end.

Babylon (6:17) gives a music with medium tempo with continuous rhythm section and guitar fills augmented with keyboard punch. The opening part of this track does not really attract me but when it reaches the interlude part with excellent keyboard solo, it starts to attract me. Especially when it is followed with guitar work overlaid on top of keyboard symphonic style.

Open Skies (5:44) is basically a reprise of the album's tracks with keyboard work that reminds me to Rick Wakeman's work. Trumpet gives its contribution in part of the melody altogether with keyboard and guitar. This track is to me something like Genesis' "Los Endos" that summarizes the Disc One of this album.

Overall rating of Disc One: 4.5 out of 5

Disc Two: The Last Summer

Masks (7:03) starts slowly with a combined keyboard and soft violin work in Kitaro-like music. The music then turns into colossal style followed with nice piano backed with orchestra. Flute gives its work in touchy melody. The music then flows in relatively slow tempo using synthesizer as main rhythm section, augmented with piano. The music turns into total symphonic prog at the end part of the track. It's cool .

Dreaming in L.A. (10:00) has a powerful opening with a stream of music combining clavinet at background and keyboard solo with orchestral background - after first vocal verse. What follow is a short guitar solo backed with multi-layered synthesizer which accompany vocal line. Flute is now enters the scene backed nicely with clavinet just before Noel's high register notes. The music turns into a more complex stuff in heavy style. For those who love Hammond organ sound would love the ending part of this track which starts at approx min 8:00. just before the vocal reenters the song.

Love Warchild of 64 (6:24) opening with guitar riffs is somewhat like an ordinary straight music until the keyboard solo enters the scene. Yes, it reminds me again to Mr. Wakeman on the way keyboard is played on top of repetitive rhythm section. Keyboard aficionado would love this relatively long opening - approx 2 minutes. Noel enters with his high register notes. Guitar which interjects the music is also stunning.

Different Places (4:10) is one of my favorites especially with its dynamic opening where keyboard, drums, bass and guitar work together in upbeat tempo which suddenly turns into medium one with great keyboard and guitar solo. Wow! It's really great! Xylophone also gives its shot into this track and it enriches the textures of this track. The keyboard solo turns into organ just before Noel's vocal enters. It's really nice. The ending part is wonderful - especially the melody produced by keyboard augmented with stunning guitar rhythm.

The Play of My Life (4:49) comprises a combined keyboard and piano sound in medium tempo music with dynamic drumming. Guitar solo in the vein of Hackett continues after vocal part. The guitar solo enriches the music textures of this track.

Two Days Left (4:49) - the attraction point of this track lies on its powerful music interlude where guitar solo delivers its best, augmented with keyboard work and dynamic drumming. The music breaks with acoustic guitar fills are also nice parts of this track.

Sparkles in the Dark (5:48) concludes Disc Two with powerful low register notes of Noel in Peter Gabriel's vein accompanied by piano touch. It's a great opening part. The insertion of organ (reminds me to Procol Harum) and keyboard followed with melodic music interlude is really great. Nggeblak! - that's how I feel when I listen to this wonderfully-crafted music interlude with great keyboard work in truly neo progressive style! Even when Noel's voice backs to the music with "The guitar is played" it gives me ultimate satisfaction in terms of providing an excellent balance between great vocal and great melody. It's a great concluding track! I even go "nggeblak!" again when the closing part gives the Scotland's music style . Oh what a nice tune!

Overall rating of Disc Two: 4 out of 5

Conclusion

This album confirms that Shakary is one of the BIG thing in the movement of progressive music. Its music is very strong in terms of composition where it delivers excellent balance between multi-instruments used and touchy melodies in most segements of the music. There are many memorable melodies you can get from almost every song contained in this album. Even though its composition is not that complex and heavy, but it requires time to digest its music. An approximately 5 times spins of the CD is probably required to absorb their music. Once you got it, it's hard to forget about this album. One little problem that I personally have with this album is sometimes the music lacks its cohesiveness, especially on transitions where vocal starts to enter. But that's probably can be cured by the passage of time. May be. Overall, it's an excellent addition to any prog music collection. Highly recommended for those of you who love neo progressive bands similar to Pallas, IQ, Pendragon, Arena, Marillion, etc. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

PS: It seems this album is quite rare to many people as when I put it at my computer that connects to the net, the title is not listed as Media Player. So I input the title to the net (I'm the first one to enter? It might be.).