Secret Sphere's latest effort, Scent Of Human Desire, was an ingenious and delightful experience, so my expectations were quite high when I popped their new disc into my stereo.
My first conclusion was that the band had remained true to their very symphonic and orchestral Power Metal, where the choruses once again play the leading role.
The first real track
Where The Sea Ends opens the album in just the way I expected, a fast and catchy song with a very heavy rhythm section. The crunchy guitars and raw bass have something cool going on here and the different parts are well glued together.
Loud & Raw profits from a hard-hitting rhythm base where especially the inventive drumming sounds fantastic; the chorus on the other hand seems a bit misplaced and simple.
The well-structured and intense
Dance With The Devil is a clear favourite. The luscious keys are outstanding and enhancing throughout the whole composition, and the ultra memorable chorus is one of those that keep visiting you.
The use of real orchestrations and huge choirs is much more present than last time around, and most of it strengthens the dynamic of the music really well. Take
Set Me Free with its epic atmospheres and bombastic impact, a great and multifaceted track with heavy rhythm guitar action and mellow piano work.
They still manage to create a romantic sentiment through some of their softer creations, as in
I Won't Say A Word filled with emotional vocals and warm backgrounds; this characteristic is one of the bands biggest strengths if you ask me. One problem here, as found elsewhere, is that the refrain is dragged on just a bit too far.
Light's On offers some successful and advanced variations; including a soaring key solo and subsequently striking guitar leads. Unfortunately the big choirs are too distant and I can't really find the binding elements in what seems a quite random construction, the chorus being no more than decent.
A song like
Bad Blood also ends up being too anonymous, the interesting acoustic mid-section is the only thing that really stands out.
The high-tempo grenade
Faster Than The Storm has been assigned with a melodic refrain and rounds the album off in good manner. The keyboard is always there giving the song that extra level of compactness while the explosive guitar solo rocks hard.
The band's delivery of the songs is precise and technically impressive; the vocals are unique in their own expressive way and overall it just sounds like each band member knows exactly his role in making this sound as powerful and convincing as possible.
The production is very good without being fantastic, it's vigorous, direct but also a bit blurred.
Aspects of love and personal self-fulfilment still take up a decent amount of the lyrical sphere; generally fine stuff, nicely matching the different moods.
Heart & Anger is a very extensive record so in that respect it's value for your money, I would just have preferred if they had worked the least good one third of the album into something that had a more close-knit and memorable touch. Some of these otherwise good songs are on the brink of drowning in the bleak pool of indistinctness.
When it all comes down to it,
Secret Sphere is much more than "just" traditional Power Metal, they manage to create their own sound and bombastic experimentations.
Written by
Tommy Saturday, July 30, 2005
Show all reviews by TommyRatingsTommy: 6.5/10Members: No members have rated this album yet.
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