Orion Riders is a very interesting new band from Italy, playing a mixture of Symphonic, Progressive and Power Metal.
There are many great musical passages to enjoy on this rather short debut running out at the 42-minute mark. When taking into consideration that one song is an intro and two being short instrumental songs, I'm left with the feeling of "needing" just a few more "normal" tracks. Well lets look at what's important, namely what we get.
Whispers is a fast and very varied composition, lots of great passages, huge symphonies, a splendid melodic guitar solo and some tight and very deep bass parts.
A New Dawn is one of my absolute favourites on this disc, a rather complex cut displaying fantastic keyboard harmonies and guitar work. It has a special progressive vibe and it just comes so well together, the huge break is really divine.
A dark shrouded mood fills up a lot of
Leave The Shades Behind being another fantastic song with immensely cool keyboard parts. The technical level is very high and the band's flair for making things just a bit complex without loosing the flow of each song is a special and important aspect.
The chorus could have been more intriguing but the drum work contains a lot of variability and the rhythm guitar approach adds quite a lot of vigour.
Light And Dark features some great twin guitar work and it has a cool bass that not only has a strong groove but also placed high in the mix. Once again the fantastic piano/keyboard parts takes up a lot of room and the bombastic choirs gives it a certain grand profile. The strong vocals change very fittingly in style from low and high levels and the only thing not really working out that well is the rather weird and unstructured ending.
The mysterious lyrics are a very good and contain a balance between melancholy and hope, both things captured in the
Life's Best Days, being the albums ballad and a good one too. A simpler path is followed with a straightforward refrain and a down to earth acoustic guitar rhythm, of course spiced with a thrilling keyboard background.
Nocturne is a one and a half minute instrumental keyboard driven track that is more odd than successful; it has got a certain dramatic edge but a bit too loose in its flow for my taste.
At the end we find the hard pounding
Old Symphony, nicely packed with innovative parts and musical treats form all band members, they surely know how to handle their instruments.
Not all vocal passages are over the top brilliant in this song, being quite screaming in fashion, and in general there are a few instances where it could have been better adjusted to the songs direction but overall I must say that it's a distinct and well-executed job.
With
Orion Riders it extremely seldom becomes predictable or tiresome, a fact that also holds ground on this last song being complex, bombastic and quite melodic.
I found the production to be very interesting and successful. They have somehow achieved to make a sound that puts the instruments (and voice) in front when it's suitable. It's not only awesomely well balanced, its bombastic and quite clear as well, only minor aspect is the drums that could have been more striking.
There is potential for a promising future for this band, a very refreshing, ingenious and varied effort.
Written by
Tommy Wednesday, April 14, 2004
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