|
This band is a project
of Thanasis Lightbridge, a keyboard
player from Thessaloniki, who attempts
something very ambitious with this
release. His aim is to unify his three
musical loves, metal, classic and
electronic music. This is indeed intriguing,
although a little bit scary even for
the most adventurous metal fans, don't
you think? But the overall result
is beyond expectations. Thanasis is
a very good composer, and producer
and he orchestrate his "band
mates" effectively. Now his "band
mates" is a twelve-member choir
(six men and six women), who are absolute
professionals at their duties, Jimmy
Wicked and Nick Terry on guitars and
bass respectively, and behind the
drum kit a modern legend of progressive
metal, Alex Holzwarth.
Although the term
"electronica art metal"
is written on the cover, it doesn't
reflect the true substance of music.
There are a lot of electronic elements,
which are portraying the "space
feeling" of the record, but they
are in a good balance with the other
two parts of the music. The metal
elements are operating mainly as the
basis, on which the choir and the
keyboard sounds build the melodies.
Now, do not think that this is a release
of another keyboard virtuoso (although
I suspect that Thanasis is very skillful
and capable on this section too).
This release is, as already written
above, balanced, and to some points
this may return back as a negative
point. I guess that some solos, from
both the keyboards and the guitars,
could help the music to get even more
interesting.
The production is
high above the Greek standards, but
the only problem that I could mention
is the sound of drums. Too me they
sound a little bit left behind at
the final mixing. I think that the
friends of Therion and those of Ayreon
will discover in "Star Tales"
an ideal merger. This is a release
recommended to all friends of innovative
sound (all rest better stay away),
a release that unifies two very different
schools. It's a difficult experiment,
but from my point of view is a successful
one. Once again personally speaking,
I am not very often proud of our exporting
music products, but this time I can
say that this release gave me a good
opportunity to imagine a better Greek
scene. I should also like to congratulate
Black Lotus for this selection, since
we are accustomed to extreme releases
from this rather dark-profiled label.
|
