LANFEAR

"This Harmonic Consonance" is an excellent offering of Lanfear. I took my time listening to this album prior to submitting this review. Music on this album somewhat reminiscent of Queensryche, vocally and melodically. Overall it's a great album with catchy melodies and great musicianship. My favourite track would have to be "The Reverend" , it has great melody which get stuck in your mind. I believe this album deserves 4.5 stars. Will appeal to any early Queensryche fans.

1. Giorno del Giudizio (intro) - N/A 2. Colours of Chaos - 9/10 3. By-Product Nation - 8.5/10 4. The Reverend - 10/10 5. Idiopathic Discreation - 8.5/10 6. Camera Silens - 9/10 7. I, Robo Sapiens - 8.5/10 8. Spectrophobia - 9/10 9. Word Not Spoken - 8.5/10 10. Disharmonic Consonance - 9.5/10

Lanfear forth album named Another golden rage issued in 2005 at same Massacre records is another worthy album for sure and their second best after the excellent previous one The art effect. Keeping same attitude as before, progressive/power metal with uptempo passages, where the guitar of Markus "Ulle" Ullrich done some great job, captivating arrangemnts and yet melodic in places. I don't know why had to go after this album Tobias Althammer the vocalist, because he was and still is one of the best voices I've heared in this style of music, he fits perfect in this prog/power metal atmosphere, his range is powerfull and has some spectacular parts here aswell like on previous one. The production besides music is crystal clear, every instrument really shines and sound godly. Even the instrumental arrangements are not very long, there are some fantastic passages I like to pull ot , like the killer opening track, the title of the album, superb, solid, powerfull and with a voice hard to forget, the more progressive metal pieces like The Voice Within with some good keybord solo, What...for or The Unrestrained and Shades of black. I have also another mention that here is one mellow piece named Eternally , simply said great, proves once again that Lanfer knows to compose not only faster and power pieces but more smoother where the voice of Tobias Althammer is on the highest level, showing that he can handle very well the more calmer register not only the one with more attitude. So, all in all another great Lanfear album, maybe not as perfect as The art effect, being my fav Lanfear album, but still a solid and catchy release that will pleases many fans of the genre. While their are not very known to wider public, for sure they desearve better then is seen today. 4 stars again, ok more like 3.5 rounded to 4 this time, they worth it. After this album they will change vocalist and to me at least, they were not as good as before. I remain to thise two albums to be their best so far The art effect and Another golder rage. They preparing for a new album soon to be released.

Lanfear is a power/ progressive metal band from Germany beggining their career in early '90s. Untill they release this album from 2003 named The art effect at Massacre records they were little known and with moderate succes in this field. With this third album they realy manage to enter in the front league of the genre. The music is very much up tempo most of the time with solid musicianship , crunchy guitar chops, great drums and above all an excellent vocalist Tobias Althammer. The progressive metal is very well melted with more power elements, the top notch pieces are the title track with some fantastic guitar lines, what a great guitar player is Markus "Ulle" Ullrich, he knew how to make a piece shining from start to finish, some brilliant progressive breaks aswell and the vocal parts are simply amazing. Another highlight of the album is Deeper, where all musicians truly did a great job. I guess this band and this album in particular is one of the most pleasent ones I've come across in last years in this genre, everything is top notch, I never guessed I'd liked so much, even I have the album for more then 5 years I never payed a very much attention untill this year when I decided to give some proper spins. Surprise , surprise these guys realy kick ass for sure. So, a very worthy album from these germans, very similar with Anubis Gate from Denmark or one of their country fellows Tomorrow's Eve. 4 stars easy, solid and damn catchy.

3.5 (strict) stars really!

After The Art Effect, this is the second album I acquire from this highly promising German progressive metal band. Not a lot seems to have changed in their musical style or direction in 2 years, which remains loyal to the dynamic, riff-based power prog metal of the previous release.

Among the positive elements that the band has kept are the memorable vocals of Tobias Althammer and the great melodic, catchy refrains. The rhythms again are varied with great effectiveness from mid-tempo to powerful speedy ones. Keyboards play a more dominant role this time and the tracks have an extra touch of progressiveness, closer to the style of Vanden Plas - Unrestrained is a great example. In addition to the usual Heaven's Gate-alike power riffs (i.e. Transmigration, Shades of Black), there are moments in the album that resemble to other famous power or prog metal bands, something that was not directly noticeable in the previous release.

Thus, the opening track with the memorable refrain reminds me of the best moments of Geoff Tate's singing, whereas the solo parts of The Voice Within bring Shadow Gallery in mind, showing the multi-dimensional influences of the band - covering both sides of the Atlantic. Although the teutonic power metal background is evident, LANFEAR seem to experiment with other forms, such as symphonic short intervals (Eclipse) and ballads based solely on keyboards (Eternally) where the Queensryche effect is evident once more.

Coincidentally (?), the first half of the album is again much stronger compositionally and with more interesting arrangements. There are no really poor compositions but a few, such as In Silence and What... For, do not match the quality that the band is able to achieve. Seibel (keyboards) signs 3 out of the 11 tracks and the rest belong to Ullrich (guitars) who is again the main source of inspiration. Another Golden Rage is a step forward from The Art Effect in terms of variation and experimentation, but with slightly less engaging compositions. However, it should appeal to listeners that prefer the prog from the power element in such bands. If you like Labyrinth, Manticora, and even Vanden Plas, then this is a band you ought to explore.

Lanfear is a relatively unknown power/prog metal band from Germany that has received a few very positive critics for its work but still remains in the so-called "underground" scene. The band manages to build on the long tradition of the German power metal school, adding interesting progressive metal elements without resembling directly to any of the widely-known establishers of the genre. Rather than following the more established route of titans such as Helloween and Blind Guardian, Lanfear tend to employ a more straightforward approach, closer to the school of Heaven's Gate.

One of the most valuable assets of the band on this album is Tobias Althammer that manages to shift from catchy, deep to high-pitched vocals with great effectiveness, providing a multi-dimensional range of moods. With the exception of two tracks written by keyboardist Richie Seibel, Markus Ullrich is the man for all compositions. This is obvious from the riff-oriented concept of the album; either being fast or mid-tempo, Ullrich delivers exceptional power metal riffs. Variety between tempos makes this album interesting and quite different from modern-day power/prog influenced bands. The great melodic refrains resemble to other promising bands of the genre such as Labyrinth and Manticora. It is also interesting to observe some more "American"-style influences such as Evergrey, Conception and Queensryche.

Only a single moment (Fortune Lies Within) does not live up to the standard that the rest of the album sets, but this is not enough to affect the solid performance and high quality of The Art Effect. Keyboards have a more accompanying rather than leading role, and this has probably worked out well for the resulting sound. The first half of the album is somewhat stronger and peaks at the great melodies of Conscience Inc.. Other highlights are the Evergrey-like Stigmatized and the adventurous and melodic The Artefact.

An album that generally keeps away from the often "cheesy", bombastic atmosphere of Euro-power/prog, The Art Effect is certainly worth the attention of prog metal listeners that are keen on modern riff-oriented heavy power in the vein of Labyrinth or Evergrey. A solid 4(-) rating is well-deserved for an album from which I could not have any serious complaints.