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Review:
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Formed in 2005 out of the ashes of various other bands,
this group from Germany perform a mix of Moody Blues, Mostly
Autumn, Within Temptation, and Xandria, a blend of classic
melodic rock and symphonic metal, with a touch of prog.
There is one problem, the sleeve art is all rather nice,
but someone forgot to put the credits in! No line-up, producer,
writers, not even a band photo. There is a gentleman who
sings on some songs who sounds rather similar to Justin
Hayward, but without credits, who know, it might be him,
unlikely, but possible? I’ll call him ‘Justin’ from now
on, just in case. The lead mike is taken by Ines, who has
a wonderful Lisa Middelhauve (Xandria) type voice, with
Sören and Alex on guitars, Denis on keys, Mart on bass and
Josch on drums.
The quality of the songs on offer here is quite staggering;
they really know how to write a catchy tune with tons of
melody, lots of lovely instrumental bits, and hooks big
enough to land a whale. It opens with the grand orchestral
‘Persephone’s Light’, then comes a brace of superb rockers,
‘Under the Same Sun’ and ‘The One’, followed the awesome
twosome of the ridiculously catchy ‘Ask’ featuring ‘Justin’,
and their staggering signature tune, ‘Onyx Eyes’. We move
onto ‘Justin’s’ showcase on the melodic progger ‘Hopes’,
the Egyptian flavoured ‘ Purple Rivers’ and the Ines and
‘Justin’ power ballad ‘Siren’. Finally we get the dramatic
‘Your Fear’, an interlude, and the final symphonic metal
flourish with ‘Lost in the Past’.
There is also a dreamy, electronica version of ‘Ask’
as a bonus track, which would make a great single. This
is a top quality, professionally recorded album that will
appeal to wide range of melodic rock / symphonic metal fans,
and is widely distributed, you should be able to find it
on Amazon and various other outlets, their Myspace is www.myspace.com/onyxeyes
. You will certainly find far more delights than tears,
9/10. (Reviewed by Phil)
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