THE SHADOWHEART MIRROR

Oceans of Night is first and foremost the creative vehicle of Scott Mosher, with vocal contributions from one Scott Oliva. The Shadowheart Mirror is their debut effort, and while it has several weaknesses it does hold some promise as well.

The music presented here is a rather primitive one as far as progressive music goes. Few changes of pace, sound and style; there's hardly any truly sophisticated elemenst utilized either - no subtle dissonances or disharmonies, nor instrumental details adding slight touches of variations to the proceedings. Instead, the main focus seems to be on melodramatics and stark contrasts.

The stylistic expression blends AOR with a slightly sophisticated version of power metal - vintage Bon Jovi meets vintage Helloween if you like. Singalong melodies and chorus parts, dark, distorted guitars contrasted by light, floating synth textures and powerful very typical metal vocals on top - think a less refined Brude Dickinson for the latter. With a few dreamier passages thrown in for good measure - hence the ambient descriptions given by the band.

The basic ideas are rather good for a fun, simple prog metal joyride. But poor production - at least as I hear it - is a general weakness. The guitars, apart from the soloing passages, sounds undefined and noisy. The vocals appear too be just slightly out of tune at times - probably not noticeable by most listeners though, as I know I am picky about this one. And at last the programmed drums sounds like just that, one-dimensional and mechanical. Which to some extent sums up this album too. With better mix and production this could have been an enjoyable effort, but as far as I'm concerned the weaknesses present distracts too much.

When that is said: I'm close to 40 years old, have listened to such vast amounts of music that my standards are somewhat extreme at times - and 20 years ago I know I would have found this album fascinating. Oceans of Night most certainly aren't in the same league as acts like Riverside or Ayreon, but if a less sophisticated romp through the genre with distinctly old school metal vocals and slight AOR leanings sounds like fun, you might just come to like this production.

'The Shadowheart Mirror' - Oceans Of Night (6/10)

Scott Mosher is a musician already fairly established in progressive metal. With a string of solo releases under his belt, he was already an experienced recording artist by the time Oceans Of Night was formed. Collaborating with vocalist Scott Oliva (no, not the singer from Savatage!), Oceans Of Night seeks to move Mosher's music forward. 'The Shadowheart Mirror' is no revelation for progressive metal, but it stands as a strong collection of well- written tracks that probably could have been better.

Although the band self-labels themselves as 'ambient progressive metal', Oceans Of Night are rooted in the sound and tone of classic melodic metal. Power metal may be a good fit for this music, although the ambient angle does come through in the thick keyboard atmosphere. Incorporating slight prog sounds into the highly melodic take on heavy metal, it's clear from the start that Oceans Of Night are placing themselves within a school that's crowded as it is. Where 'The Shadowheart MIrror' lifts itself up however is through the songwriting, which- above and beyond- is the best thing that the album has going for it. Although I've admittedly grown weary of the 'AOR' take on progressive metal, Oceans Of Night have an excellent grasp of melody, and I found myself humming along to many of these tunes by the third chorus. Driving most of the melodies is vocalist Scott Oliva, who has a voice perfectly suited for this sort of music. I could compare him to a slew of legendary metal vocalists; Bruce Dickinson, Rob Halford, or Geoff Tate. As technically skilled a vocalist as he is, 'The Shadowheart Mirror' does not showcase him as being terribly unique, although his performance here is top notch.

Scott Mosher's contribution lies in the instrumental delivery, and this is where Oceans Of Night's execution gets a little muddy. First of all, Mosher is a great musician, and though he has several instruments to contend with here, he manages to succeed with each of them, at least decently. The complaints I have about the instrumentation don't lie in the way Mosher has played, but rather the way it is recorded. The production on 'The Shadowheart Mirror' is painfully inconsistent. Oliva's vocals and the playful guitar leads are both captured beautifully, and though the keyboards and drums are doused with nostalgic 80's cheese, they're still listenable. Where Oceans Of Night gets hurt badly are the rhythm guitars, and the way they have been recorded. Throughout the album, the rhythm guitar sounds either like it's playing through an amp that's blown, or my speakers themselves have bit it. I checked it a couple of sound systems however, and while the other aspects of Oceans Of Night were coming out clearly, the garbled sound of the rhythm guitar is painful. For audiophiles out there, the blown rhythm tone might be enough to put you off your lunch. It's a real shame too, because the rest of 'The Shadowheart Mirror' makes Oceans Of Night out to be an incredibly capable melodic metal act. While they're not 'my sort of metal' by any means, there is skill with crafting great songs and catchy hooks that lifts the band's work above many of their melodic peers.