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Reviews |
Shadow Gallery - Carved In Stone 1995Mike is very familiar with this album. Great Celtic Epic Neo Prog Metal! Melodic, Rock, Guitar, Male-Melodic-Shouting I really like this album ... from all the Shadow Gallery albums it's the one with the most folk/celtic influences, and while there are some quite heavy bits it maintains a very acoustic sound. The epic (Ghostship) is outstanding ... it's like a more progressive version of Iron Maiden's Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Rating by Mike 3 years ago Shadow Gallery - Shadow Gallery 1992Bj-1 has listened to this several times. A good debut album from Shadow Gallery. While it struggles with production issues, it clearly shows that this band have their talents compositionally and technically. This is a dark, mysterious and pleasant album, although it have it's lacks here and there. Fans must check this one out for sure, but causual listeners are recommended to wait a bit until they have acquired some of Shadow Gallery's other albums first. Good album, with the final "The Queen of The City of Ice" being a glorious standout. Shadow Gallery - Tyranny 1998Mike is very familiar with this album. Magnificent Technical Neo Prog Metal! Concept, Melodic, Rock, Guitar, Male-Melodic-Shouting, Conspiracy This is as well a masterpiece as their latest effort, Room V.
Tyranny is often compared to Queensryche's Operation:
Mindcrime, but I don't think that this is appropriate. Shadow
Gallery is more prog, whereas Queensryche is more mainstream
rock/metal. Let me clarify that I love Mindcrime as well and
consider it to be a masterpiece, too. But it is more accessible
than Tyranny, which takes some more time to grow on you.
Many friends of mine listened to it and then complained
about it being boring, and all songs sound the same. It is true
that Shadow Gallery (like Symphony X, for that matter) have
their own sound, that
they vary a little bit from song to song, but not as much as
for example Dream Theater did on Images And Words or Awake.
But Tyranny is about killer melodies (the ballads, Spoken
Words), stunning guitar/keyboard acrobatics (Stiletto in the
Sand), and interesting and credible lyrics (New World Order).
The musicians easily match the qualities of Romeo, Petrucci,
Rudess and the likes. The singer is also very nice, although
when you first hear the vocals you find the voice a little too
unspectacular ... but it grows on you just like the
whole package! Shadow Gallery - Room V 2005Mike is very familiar with this album. Magnificent Symphonic Prog Metal! Modern, Technical, Rock, Guitar This is the Shadow Gallery masterpiece that the fans have been
waiting for: A worthy successor of Tyranny, with elements from
all their other albums - most prominently Carved In Stone -
thrown in ... let me rephrase that: carefully interwoven. The
songs are divided in the two acts III and IV, which shows that
this is really meant to be the successor to Tyranny.
Listening to the first song the heritage becomes obvious
anyway, as it's basically an Overture to the new songs as well
as a summary of Tyranny, constructed in a manner similar to the
Overture 1928 on Dream
Theater's concept album or the Neal Morse opuses. I don't want
to go into too much detail on the music, because it really
boils down to being "just" what they did on Tyranny and Carved
In Stone, but with lots of fresh ideas and beautiful
melodies.
The story picks up pieces of Tyranny, but although I didn't
give it much thought (didn't listen and simultaneously read the
booklet), it obviously isn't about a new world order, but more
about the personal life of the protagonists.
Mr. Arjen Lucassen makes a guest appearance, and tracks 2
and 3 feature beautiful female vocals in the same unusual
manner as on Tyranny (quite low registers, I wonder if it's the
same singer).
One word about the BONUS DISC: Among some acoustic versions
and demos of the Room V songs, there's an absolute highlight:
The 25 minute medley Floydian Memories. While it's basically a
medley, where typically passages from different songs are put
together, this track goes one step further and merges different
Pink Floyd tracks in a psychedelic way. Marvelous. Wonderful.
Masterpiece.
What a pity that apparently they don't tour ... maybe that
changes with them signing on to InsideOut, let's hope so! Shadow Gallery - Legacy 2001Mike is very familiar with this album. Great Prog Metal! Melodic, Modern, Rock, Guitar, Male-Melodic-Shouting This is not the best Shadow Gallery album ... but it get's a
high score from me because of the brilliant epic and the first
track. Colors might be the weakest track, but given some time
it begins to grow on you as well. |
Top Studio Albums
|
1 |
Tyranny 1998 Magnificent7 Technical Neo Prog Metal! Concept3, Melodic3, Rock3, Guitar2, Male-Melodic-Shouting2, Conspiracy2 |
2 |
Carved In Stone 1995 Excellent6 Celtic Epic Neo Prog Metal! Melodic2, Rock2, Guitar2, Male-Melodic-Shouting2 |
3 |
Room V 2005 Great6 Symphonic Prog Metal! Modern, Technical, Rock2, Guitar |
4 |
Legacy 2001 Great6 Prog Metal! Melodic3, Modern2, Rock3, Guitar2, Male-Melodic-Shouting2 |
5 |
Shadow Gallery 1992 Good3 Neo Prog Metal! | NOTE: This list is compiled automatically by comparing tag assigments. Numbers indicate matching tags (tooltip shows details). |
