KAILASH

Got this after seeing a gushing review on another site. This is prog metal with heavy doses of keys. The keyboardist wrote all of the music, while Hubi wrote all the vocals and produced. Meisel has a very good voice, although it is one of those that perhaps would turn off a few people. The vocals are clean throughout, not like where LaBrie will vary from clean to rough. And speaking of LaBrie, after several listens, you get a real Dream Theater vibe. There are two guitarists and they each play on certain songs, not together. They both are very good and hard to tell apart and they both channel Petrucci throughout. There are some very good solos on this disc.

I hate to dub it another DT clone, as I know that Meisel really poured himself into the project and the results are very good. It just is something that nags at you throughout without being a blatant ripoff at all. The production is pristine and everyone plays outstanding. I don't know that it is a concept album so much as theme based, with the songs being about Tibet and the Dali Llama and that part of the world. Kind of an exestential journey of thought that Meisel puts out there as kind of a "food for thought" without being preachy.

A solid 4. The songs are consistently above average but none of them really blow my doors off. An excellent addition.

Hubi's second album from the Trilogy, named Kailash from 2006, but third from his solo career. As you might guessed this is another concept album , like the previous one about the Himalayas, Mount Kailash, Tibet and the secrets of ancient Buddhist/Hindu culture, so another intristing little stories behind this release. While the previous ralbum was outstanding both musicaly, lyrical and visualy, this one is not a step down at all from Emocean from 2004. Pieceas are from good to great again, Hubi meisel shines here on every single note he play and sing. He fits like a glove in this kind of prog metal, who by the way is not your typical prog metal thet you hear every day, is more towards hard rock with a lot of keys added and very strong guitar interplays. Again Maisel gathered aroud him a bunch of great musicians from prog metal, besides Marcel Coenen ,Lau and Daniel Flores, who were on previous album, he mange to bring another two great virtuosos Johan Niemann the bass player from Therion and Jorge Salán on guitar from Mago de Oz. So a line up who sure make envy many bands from today. Every single piece is a winner, from slow to more up beat instrumental passages, this Kailash is great album to listen and very strong lyrics as well. The musicianship is top notch not to mention Hubi Meise's voice, excellent and very strong is his range. The best pieces are all, maybe with a plus one opening track Potala Palace, Red Oracle and the longest one clocking around 11 minutes -Wheel Of Life. A good album to aquire if you are on this kind of music. Again the cover art and the inner sleeve is outstanding made. My version is in digi pack format with two bonus tracks and is available on LionMusic like the previous one Emocean. Maybe not as good as Emocean but worth investigate both albums who offerd a prog metal hard to forget these days. 4 stars for sure. Recommended, looking forward for the next and final release from the Trilogy.