It certainly doesn't show, but it only took
Richard Andersson a brief two months to compose the eight songs for the third
Time Requiem album. This is another progressive/neo-classical outlet for prolific keyboardist Andersson, who also heads up the band Space Odyssey, an even more prog bent outfit. The CD is fast and furious and features some pretty stunning musicianship. It definitely falls under the heading of complex neo-classical music, formed and fashioned in a similar manner that
Yngwie Malmsteen used to do before he became a shadow of his former self.
Other than Andersson, the musicians are all very impressive, including Magnus Nilsson, the guitarist. He shreds and string bends, burning up the fretboard and setting flames to his fingers alike. His performances are all very impressive and since the disc is packed with guitars bursting at every seam, there's lots of opportunity to be amazed by his shredding. Andy Rose and Jorg Andrews make up the thunder pumping rhythm section and for the vocalist, its none other than Goran Edman. He is a transformed animal here, sounding very little like the silky smooth crooner that captivates on
AOR albums. His voice is a powerhouse and he roars like a wildcat, bringing personality and feverish excitement to the music. This calls to mind his stint with Malmsteen, not to mention the Johansson Brother's "Last Viking" album which this disc shares alot of similiarities to. Richard wrote the music to be styled around Edman's pipes which makes a huge difference than when he's simply called in to be the hired gun. This gives the music a lyrical boost that allows Goran to match the music pound for pound without becoming lost in all the intricate instrumental weavings spider webbing their way across the background.
Songwise is where things get murky. The speedier stuff is too alike for its own good, and while instantly catchy, get lost as they meld together in the mind. There's just not enough to seperate them from each other. However tunes like the magnificent progressive minded
"Ocean Wings" are worth the price of admission and sparkle and shine under the meticulous production. Beginning with acoustic and vocal only, the delicate opening is then slammed to the wall for a darker burn.
"Miracle Man" gets the nod as the most commercial of the bunch, and this is a great break. Goran lets loose with all lungs burning and his voice is so addictive, especially when matched with the chorus set free here. The guitars pounce in toward the end for multiple tangents. You just can't help dreaming of Yngwie's past work with Edman with all the arpeggios flying about.
But like with Artension, and to the same extent with Richard's other band
Majesty, all the excess starts to get on the nerves and seem blatantly unnecessary before its all over with. Those that don't hang on every note or discect every little nuance will quickly grow bored and cold with trying to sit through this in one shot. In bits and pieces its great and you warm up to
"Optical Illusion" quickly with all the nervous, energetic excitement, but after a few tracks things get repetitive and you are looking to change the CD. The intensity and overall skull melting pace is nerve wracking and a hard pill to swallow after enduring more than a handful of tracks. That's still an improvement over the previous two
Time Requiem efforts, which drowned themselves by floundering with these same problems. Also there's just too much keyboards here, to the point of ridiculousness. Andersson is a mighty talented ivory tickler but lets the importance a song's structure and flow be thrown out the window in favor of even more instrumental noodlings. Its exhausting and the same mistake that both guitarist Malmsteen and other keyboard virtuoso,
Vitalij Kuprij makes over and over again.
"The Talisman" is an example of this. It is quick, fast, has keyboard work par excellence, and even succeeds in being a technical wonder. Yet as a song, ultimately fails. Too atypical and falls into the speed over substance trap.
That being said, it is a bloody fun disc to pick apart.
"Optical Illusion" is so complex that even after a couple of months of listening on and off, I am still finding little thrilling bits that had previously gone unnoticed. And it has to be said that the guitar solo on
"Sin to Sin" is too brilliant for words, taking the breath right away. Just two months to compose all of this? Richard really is a mastermind of music, even if he is overly self indulgent and not afraid to flaunt it. He does desperately need to step back a little and realize what makes a song a song and not just another excuse to let the instruments run wild with no rhyme or reason.
The title track,
"Optical Illusion" is another stunner that comes sweeping through with a massive, grandiose sound that could have been lifted from a blockbuster movie. The sense of darkness is welcoming and you can literally hear a storm brewing on the distant horizon, crashing in with a sense of foreboding. Nilsson chimes in with sharp yet simple guitar that contrasts itself against the craziness of the keyboards. Goran lets loose and is double tracked in spots to beef up the intensity. A cool, yet slightly overboard trade off between Andersson battling head to head against Nilsson in a war of prowess closes this opus down with typical neo classical goodness.
Your enjoyment of the disc will hinge entirely on how much you can tolerate metal at its most excessive. Expertly played and lots of showing off are the name of the game here, and it is dazzling just to hear some of these pieces being played. The inclusion of Goran Edman this time around and tinkering with achieving a "film score" like build up to the music has also increased the accessibility. A familiar voice and a bigger more bombastic boost has gone a long way to taking
Time Requiem from a noodly Artension clone to a band worthy of the bigger leagues. Fans of
Yngwie Malmsteen, Symphony X,
Majesty and their ilk will eat this up like a metallic sundae. A nice album for the genre that's very well recorded. Even with its shortcomings, I would be hard pressed to name another disc of its type in the past few years that I enjoyed this much immediately, and continue to do so some time later. Caution should be taken however, since this
"Optical Illusion" demands alot of time, patience and a predilection for virtuoso overindulgance.
Written by
Alanna Monday, July 24, 2006
Show all reviews by AlannaRatingsAlanna: 6.5/10Members: No members have rated this album yet.
This article has been shown 2650 times. Go to the
complete list.
