Italy's Soul Secret delivers a progressive metal experience that sounds straight from the 90s boom of prog excellency. There are a multitude of ideas here on "Flowing Portraits", woven elegantly through each song. Instruments and vocals mesh with one another, and create a musically intricate album that bursts with energy and influence. Songs such as "Inner War" will sweep you up in the glory of the heydays of Eternity-X and Dream Theater's humble beginnings.
 
A distinct in-your-face, metal meltdown "Awake" sound prevails. Guitars are sharp and biting, synthesizers adding plush layers and a slick vocal from ex-Mind Key singer Mark Basile that sounds amazingly like a mix of James LaBrie and DC Cooper. "Flowing Portraits" is indeed a flowing album and you can spot bits of Dream Theater (they were once a DT cover band after all), Spock's Beard, Pain of Salvation, Liquid Tension Experiment and Symphony X. It's something better digested in pieces and picked apart.

It gets dark and heavy on "Dance of the Waves", frothing vocals, danger tipped keys, head spinning pace changes. This was how they used to make it, prog metal that has melody and imagination, that encompasses a huge range of sounds and emotions. "First Creature" features gorgeous melodic vocals set in a sea of symphonic metal bliss. Crunchy rolling guitars, dancing keyboard work that darts all around the atmosphere laid down and a sprinkle of that Symphony X feel.
 
Hints of Rush can be traced on "Learning to Lose", which is a melodic prog piece that boldly flirts with AOR styled music. After the assault of the first three songs, it makes for a nice transistion to prepare for the acoustic cut, and then the grand finisher (and highlight of the album) "Tears of Kalliroe".The light and flittery heart bleed of "Regrets" is the soulful calm in the midst of the metallic storm. Washed ashore with acoustic and vocal in hand, the tale here is one of opportunities gone by and things that seem of utmost importance, slipping right from your hands.
 
"Tears of Kalliroe" is the epic closer, and takes the listener through heaven, hell and back again. All of this accomplished in the span of nearly seventeen minutes. That's right, seventeen minutes. This is not just a song, it's an absolute monster. And while the running time seems excessive, every second is packed with fantastic instrumentation, beautiful vocals and fluid melodies. A movie-score like beginning opens the song up before the lead heavy guitars begin crunching in amongst the layered keys. Insane swapping between this rich orchestration and clawing heavy metal, it's a song of drama and virtuosity. A drowning pool of solos keeps the song clipping at an incredible pace, all while the vocals keep you grounded with their solidity and haughty sweeping majesty.
Mark's DC Cooper-like vocal command comes into play here, as the soul shredding conviction is absolutely unshakeable.  For those that cut their teeth on prog metal similiar to this, it will be like a spinning dizzy retro trip of bliss. However, you also get the feeling that if the six songs available here had been chopped up into perhaps eight, the disc would become much more accessible to the general audience. There are plenty of ideas running wild here, and Soul Secret has the talents to keep everything grounded and running smoothly throughout the six tracks.
 
"Flowing Portraits" is an appropriate title, referring to the songs and their melodies (perhaps?), and it must be said that all of their influences are handled deftly. Showing nothing but skill and respect for the peers that came before them and helped to create their shapeshifting sound. With bombast and sorrow, thunder and rainy downpour - Leviathan, Dream Theater, Fates Warning, Rush, Symphony X, Threshold and a baker's dozen others, all sharing, swapping and blending into each other for the spotlight, this is an album that is difficult to get into. It's not instant, as with any thought provoking prog metal, but a little time invested will reward you tenfold. There are some truly great songs of the genre here, and atleast this band is proving that you *can* make progmetal like it used to be. Bold, breathlessly intricate and completely fascinatingly beautiful.  Now only if the whole procession was a tad more streamlined... 

Written by Alanna
Saturday, June 21, 2008
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Ratings

Alanna: 7/10

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