Mistheria is an apparently skilled and well trained "virtuoso" keyboard player who hails from Italy (land of the cheesy Power Metal). Before listening to this album I had never heard of the guy, but now that I have heard his material I can honestly say that he lives up to the moniker of "virtuoso." Not only is the guy very talented, but he seems to have numerous connections to many other talented and respected musicians in the scene. That is all fine and dandy, and after reading the long list of guest appearances I became quite excited to actually listen to the album itself.
So my first impression was that this was just flat out not good. I mean, you've got all these great musicians doing crazy and difficult solos, leads, and the such, and then you have a bunch of songs that are just flat out boring (all of which fall into the completely overdone neo-classical/operatic genre). Unfortunately my first impression is also my last impression. I gave this album a very fair chance, listened through ten times just as I have described as my protocol. Regardless, I can't even begin to try to find this interesting. I think the worst part is the singer, Max Romano, who vomits all over seven of the tracks. This guy cannot sing. I am very sorry to say this, and I really do feel bad, but I really think
Mistheria would have been better off finding someone with a little more depth and skill to their vocal delivery. This of course is not helped by the flimsy and cheap sounding production that plagues the entire album.
The highlights for me are definitely
Mistheria's solos and leads (which are absolutely incredible), and George Bellas' solo on
"The Beast of the Maze." I am a big fan of George Bellas' latest instrumental solo album "Venemous Fingers." Other than that I am lulled to an unfortunate and tragic sleep with how boring this is.
Truly no disrespect to anyone involved in this project, but I can't for the life of me even begin to get into this. I think this album is for fans of instrumental virtuoso musicianship only (even though there is a lot of bad singing over it).
Mistheria would be better off getting himself a solid band together with a strong singer, rather than doing the all too common all-star appearance metal-opera type thing.
Written by
Jonah Thursday, December 30, 2004
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