The Art Effect is the third album by Germany's Lanfear. Never having heard anything by them before, I was pretty much blown away by this effort. Complex Power Metal of high quality, with many progressive elements. They go beyond your standard German Power Metal band and manage to sound really fresh.
Powerful is the right word to describe the music. An almost perfect production builds a thick wall of sound, that is still amazingly clear. Only the bass is a little in the background. The thick and powerful wall of sound is ripped apart when Tobias "Neo" Althammer starts singing. This guy has one of the best voices, I have heard in a long time. Powerful and melodic, with a huge range and he keeps up with the technical music just fine. He gives many of the songs some brilliant vocal melodies. The keyboard also plays an important role in many songs, but throughout it is mostly used to give the album it's great atmosphere.
The music is quite complex and every song has many breaks, while at all times the melodic element is kept intact. The music is very guitar driven, and Markus Ullrich puts on an impressive and blistering performance. Monster heavy riffs and sharp solos are scattered all over the album. The drumming by Jürgen Schrank keeps up the high pace, and contains many details that makes it worth concentrating on them.
Heresy sets a little mood before
Stigmatized opens the ball, with a blast. The guitar has a heavy crunch, and the rest of the instruments build a huge, powerful wall of sound that is seemingly impenetrable. Then Tobias Althammer's voice blows that vision away. Being able to effortlessly switch between a normal voice and a very highpitched one is one of his trademarks.
Besides the powerful
Stigmatized my other favourites include
Traces of infinity which is extremely well composed. A few highlights of this song include the keyboard performance, and the great harmonies in the chorus. The epic title track
The artefact is my absolute favorite at the moment, with it's progressive elements and brilliant chorus. Tobias vocals in the bridge right after the first verse is a good example of what he is capable of. Fantastic!.
Other highlights include the heavy and powerful, yet still melodic
Conscience inc., and the brilliant atmospheric start to the otherwise heavy, and lyrically beautiful
Deeper. These characteristics are also shared by
Fortune lies within.
Another close competitor for the "Favourite song" spot is
The spell. This is one of the most interesting and powerful songs on the album. The way the keyboard and guitar plays along in the instrumental passage works great. The first time I heard it I was like "What the ??!?" , but after repeated listens it works really well, and gives the song that extra special feeling. This kind of experimentation is very welcome and keeps things interesting. The chorus also has some great hamonies.
A red line runs through the both mystical and sometimes society critical lyrics, which in many songs deal with coming to terms with oneself, by daring to believe... in yourself.
It's hard to find faults with this album. It has no bad songs. It is consistent, high class and kept interesting by a heavy and varied rythm section. Only
Beneath it all and
Regression are "not quite as good" as the rest. The highlight of
Beneath it all is the brilliant drum work, but overall the song needs a little more variation.
Regression ends the album and just doesn't stick in my mind like the other songs do.
This album needs a couple of listens before it grabs you, but what you get is a powerful and enjoyable attack on all your senses, that sometimes leaves you breathless, but always leaves you wanting more. What a great discovery!
Written by
Steen Tuesday, July 1, 2003
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