REVIEWS ARCHIVE - L |
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LABRIE, JAMES
"Elements Of Persuasion" (Inside Out / SPV - provided Target) - 3 out of 5 points - |
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I have always wondered about something (or at least ever since I saw the thanks list in Dream Theater's "Images And Words", where James LaBrie is thanking Rosemary Church…."MY OPERA TEACHER", as he so underplayed writes it, hmmmm)!!?? If James has seriously received opera lessons, then he also knows that the biggest mistake for singers nowadays is that they are letting out air on the vocal chords at the same time as singing. It is sin number 1 in opera, and Mr. LaBrie is the worst sinner in the whole metal community. I am getting so fed up with his irritating nasal whisper-singing, where more air is floating over his vocal chords than air, coming out of a Boeing 747 during a Transatlantic trip. It is a nuisance to the ear and it is even beginning to piss me off in Dream Theater. When LaBrie is singing normally, energetic and without all this "emotion" bullshit, he is nothing short of a vocal God. Elements Of Persuasion is a mixture of these 2 things and therefore I'm very confused as to what note this CD should be given. On one hand, it's refreshing to hear LaBrie singing songs that don't necessarily remind of Dream Theater (there's nowhere nearly as much progressiveness on this one than on DT's stuff), and it speaks to his advantage that the disc is extremely varied between power, silent songs, sample stuff, and heavy guitars. On the other hand, on all the silent parts, where this album really differs from DT, LaBrie chooses to sing words like "chhhhhhooool" (cool), "rhhhhhheeest" (rest), "yieeyyyuuuww" (you) or "hiiiiiiaaar" (here). It ruins everything that is so beautifully built through the music coz the music is definitely pleasant and nice to listen to. The solos might be a little sharp and edgy, but that might also have something to do with the production of them. In my opinion, James Lhhhhabrie should really sit down and think about where he is going with his vocals for the future. Of course he can't keep on high pitching like he did on Images And Words, but he ought to lay off with the "lazy" singing as I choose to call it. As it is now, it drags the reputation of this fantastic vocalist down to perform so weakly.
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Lars
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LABYRINTH
"Freeman" (Arise Records - provided by Arise Records) - 2½ out of 5 points - |
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As mentioned in my review of the last disc of Italian power metal band Labyrinth, the original bandleader Olaf Thörsen had said goodbye to the band in order for him to concentrate 100% about Vision Divine. This has of course meant that Labyrinth had been forced to find a new guitar player / songwriter in order to complete their line up, and by that said hallo to a new sound, which means that the good old power metal, which they delivered with style now is passé. The new sound is a bit more progressive and more melodic compared to what they delivered before. There is a lot of new interesting things to find in their new album "Freeman". But unfortunately in the long run this album has the tendency of becoming predictable and slightly boring. Roberto Tiranti voice is a bit wasted in their new style, not that he doesn't know how to sing, but sometimes it sounds a bit misplaced. I would have hoped for more from the Italian power metal masters.
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Benjamin
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LABYRINTH "Labyrinth" (Century Media - provided by Target Distribution) - 2 out of 5 points - |
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Three years has now passed and Labyrinth is back with their 4th full-length album "Labyrinth". The band has said goodbye to their guitarist Oluf Thörsen, and has changed their image by using their original names instead of their artist names for an example Robert Tyrant "Singer" now uses his own name Roberto Tiranti. Who first appearance was on the album "Return To Heaven Denied" before that the legendary singer of Rhapsody (Fabio Lione) appeared on their debut album 1996 "No Limits" - Labyrinth's debut album was a new thinking and a fresh approach the metal scene at that stage, and they followed on their success with another great album in 1998 "Return To Heaven Denied" which where aggressive but yet very melodic. Two years passed until we saw a new release from Labyrinth, but this time the expectations to the album where high especially after the genial album "Return", but the album didn't turn out as good as almost every has expected. Even Labyrinth was satisfied with their release of the "Sons Of Thunder" album, as everything went wrong. They have hired the success producer Neil Kernon who couldn't finish the work that they have started together, and the record company had announced the release date, and therefore the where forced to deliver an uncompleted album. But nevertheless Labyrinth hasn't given up the fight, and is back with a "new" line up and a new record label (Century Media). I have been given this album a lot of spins to dig deep and find a good an objective view of their new record. The production on this album is without any comments I will almost say state of the art! The album has two or three good songs that are worthy to be mentioned: "The Prophet" is a really good opening number shows Labyrinths force to write great Power Metal with catchy choruses. "Terzinato" is a great track on this album it shows Labyrinths potential in developing, "Terzinato" is what I have hoped that Labyrinth would have provided trough the entire album, the track has and edge to Progressive. But in general the album is a bit boring with a tendency of unoriginality even though I know that there playing the veins of good old days, but please wake up Labyrinth and smell a new century beginning. The two before mentioned tracks and the divine voice of Tiranti is the facelift to this uninspired album.
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Benjamin
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LACRIMAS PROFUNDERE
"Ave End" (Napalm Records - provided by Target Distribution) - 3 out of 5 points - |
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Before writing further, I have to admit that I'm not the biggest fan of dark gothic rock music. Yepp, I have listened a bit to Type O Negative, Paradise Lost, Danzig and so on (which all 3 seem to have inspired Lacrimas Profundere), but it never ate my soul, so this review might be coloured by that. "Ave End" is a piece of work that actually sounds ok, but not good enough to hold the interest of the listener for more than a few songs. It is VERY much the same song over and over again for the listener that doesn't normally listen to this kind of music. The lead singer Christopher is almost chanting throughout the whole album, rather than singing. If this band could get a second leadsinger - male or female - they'd bring some life into the music. As it is now, the singing/chanting drags the album down, coz the atmosphere IS present in the music, with big chords, and catchy lead guitars/melodies. It sounds as if the singer almost doesn't want to give it all - as if he's bored, doing this album. In my opinion, you shouldn't give up energy, just to have atmosphere. It's a balance to tread, and Lacrimas Profundere has fallen into the ditch of atmosphere, without being able to get over the wall to the ditch of energy. However, as I said in the beginning, this review may be coloured by my lack of experience with the genre, and the production is absolutely fantastic on "Ave End", so fans of the previous mentioned bands should check this one out.
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Lars
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LACUNA COIL
"Karmacode" (Century Media - provided by EMI) - 3 out of 5 points - |
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As female fronted bands have slowly grown to be more and more popular, so has Italians Lacuna Coil, who doesn't want to stand back from the rest. A lot of people have said that this is just another Nightwish, but nothing could be further from the truth. Lacuna Coil is a much more emotional band that tends to jump more into the industrial sound than the symphonic. Cristina on vocals is not the greatest singer in the world, but she sticks to what she knows she can do, and that is sometimes a virtue that is missed in the business. The male vocals from Andrea sound a little flat, but nevertheless fits the music well. The production is very dark and makes the songs heavier than they actually are, but that is also Lacuna Coil's biggest problem. The bass and guitars with their general lack of riffs and the deep tones take over the entire picture and make the songs seem like clones of each other. There's simply not enough variety to make this album interesting for 13 songs. It's groovy, it's heavy, it's professional - yes, but it's not the album that it's hyped to be. Put a big sweater and some baggy pants on Cristina in the video's and this album won't sell the shitload that it does, sorry to say.
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Lars
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LAKE OF TEARS "The Neonai" (Black Mark - provided by Nordic Metal) - 2 out of 5 points - |
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I feel that LoT hasn't taken the time for this one. All songs have been heard before on previous LoT albums. It is well-composed music, though the computer drums annoy me. If one shouldn't know what LoT sound, it can be comparable with bands like Cemetery and Sundown with some more 70's style over it.
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Martin P
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LANE, LANA
"Storybook - Tales From Europe & Japan DVD" (Frontiers Records - provided by Frontiers) - 4 out of 5 points - |
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Almost 3 hours of material is to be found on this DVD - impressive I must say. And even better, the quality is extra-ordinarily good for a DVD, which is compiled from various shows over the past 10 years of Lana Lane's band in concert. Sure, some of it is a bit blurry and filmed with just one camera, but most of it is actually very pro-looking, and the sound serves this great lady justice (actually there are times where you won't even believe it's "live"). Lana Lane is one of the best singers in hard rock, prog metal, symphonic metal - (call it what you will, even Lana herself says that she haven't heard anyone label her music correctly yet) - and with this live DVD spanning her entire career, you get a great insight in her voice, her band and the music that Neil Citron, Mark McCrite and mainly Lana's husband Erik Norlander has written for her. Besides 20 songs live (yes, that's a hell of a lot of music!) there's a bunch of interviews with all the musicians, on-the-road footage, rehearsal-room footage and more, so in other words, you're really getting value for your money here.
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Claus
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LANFEAR "The Art Effect" (Massacre Records - provided by Nordic Metal) - 4½ out of 5 points - |
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I remember the first disc of Lanfear, "Towers Of February", (1997) with somewhat horrid feelings. Not a brilliant disc, and to be honest it bored me to death. Then 2 years later came the "Zero Poems" disc, praised by the media and fans as a true progressive metal classic. As with most of the albums labeled "classic" it went unnoticed by the big public and didn't really reach much further than a nice little underground item. To me this album had it's good spots, but with a dull and somewhat irritating vocalist in front, it also became one of those discs that is now collecting dust on the shelf. This will definitely not happen to "The Art Effect", 'cause with this new album, Lanfear has created a pure milestone in progressive power metal - a disc that I can listen to over and over again without getting bored or tired of it for one second. This is exactly how I prefer my metal to be like. Lots of warm guitar melodies (reminding somewhat of Fates Warning), nice keyboard keyboard (kinda like Ivanhoe) and a hard hitting power metal groove (not that far from Evergrey's sound). On top of it all, Lanfear has found themselves a brilliant new singer, Tobias Althammer, who has a great range and a beautiful tone to his voice. Songs like "The Artefact" and "Fortune Lies Within" are filled with superb melodies and opener "Stigmatized" as well as "V.o.a.t./The Spell" are prime examples of the heavier side of this band. "The Art Effect" is a great disc, and one no fan of power metal and/or progressive metal shouldn't be without.
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Claus
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LAST AUTUMN'S DREAM
"II" (Frontiers Records - provided by Atenzia) - 2 out of 5 points - |
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A beautiful piano starts off this album, and then comes in the sweetest voice I've heard in a long time … wow, that chick has such a nice voice … I bet she must be a hottie. So, I immediately flip around the album cover, just to find out that it's a freakin' guy singing. WHAT? A guy? No way - that's just wrong - wrong, I tell ya! This guy's testosterone level must be at a low-point, otherwise he can't sound so much like a chick. Damn … Alright, let's concentrate on the music; soft melodic rock, great guitar parts, lots of piano, and that voice (still creeps me out). File this somewhere between Hugo, Fair Warning, Casanova, and in the more rockin' songs Bon Jovi and Mr.Big.
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Claus
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LEAD WEIGHT "Penetrator" (CD-Maximum - provided by CD-Maximum) - 1 out of 5 points - |
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Lead Weight is a band from Alma Ata from Kazakhstan, whom has existed for more than 10 years. The band released their first demo "Iron Balls" back in 1992 and has since then released 2 full lengths self financed albums. The music that LW provides is a mixture of old school Death Metal, with an approach of the today more modern Metal, but yet it is very old school it kind of reminds me of the first Mortification, just a little more melodic. The production of the album stinks, it reminds me of a demo tape recorded on one microphone, the drums are even worse than Metallica's "St. Anger" album. The only thing that has a positive effect on me is the melodic guitar plays on this album, even though the guitar is drowning by the poor sound of the drums. This album is below the average of Metal in general, but still I do believe it has something to do with the production, because some of the elements in the music are quite ok.
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Benjamin
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LEASH LAW
"Dogface" (Black Lotus Records - provided by VME) - 1 out of 5 points - |
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This is an album I was actually looking forward to with great anticipation. A band with a great line-up consisting of Richard Christy (Iced Earth, Death, Control Denied) on drums, Wade Black (Crimson Glory, Seven Witches) on vocals, Rick Renström (Rob Rock + solo albums) on guitars, and Emo Mowery (Nocturnus) on rhythm guitar - an all star line-up of US power metal! The outcome HAD to be something worthwhile, right? Wrong! This is boring, cliché filled power metal, which doesn't move one single toe on my feet in anything that resembles a tapping rhythm. Instead, the only tapping/shaking done here is when I shake my head in disbelief of how bad this actually is. Wade Black sang like a young Halford mixed with the high-pitch wails of Midnight on the "Astronomica" disc from Crimson Glory, and I was one of those who actually found him a worthwile replacement for Midnight. Here on "Dogface" he sounds strained and plain horrible. What went wrong? The songs are what went wrong - it's songs that just doesn't flow at all, they are forced in pace, forced in technicality, and they simply doesn't hold together at all. And add to that Rick's (well-executed, I have to admit) neo-classical solo's that has no place in straight power metal tunes like these. This album proves that even with the right attitude and the greatest of musicians assembled in one band, the outcome doesn't necessarily have to be of the same calibre.
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Claus
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LEE Z
"Shadowland" (Escapi Music - provided by Target) - 4½ out of 5 points - |
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Tell me honestly; would you ever think that a band going by the name "Lee Z" would be a German progressive metal band? Nope - I didn't guess so. To me, that name sounds more like something a NY hardcore band would choose, or perhaps a solo project for a nu-metal guy. Anyway, this name is actually all the 4 guys in Lee Z have going against them, as they right now are close to being the best damn "new-comer" band on the progressive metal scene I've paid my attention to in the last year. "Shadowland" is an album filled with beautiful melodies, great playing skills, and technical competence to the max! Their record label seems intend on labelling the band as a mixture of Queensryche and Dream Theater, with a bit of modern influences added to the mix. It's not that far off, as I'd personally liken this more to bands such as Poverty's No Crime, Balance Of Power or Vanden Plas, with just a touch of modern-day pop rock in the vein of The Rasmus or even some Nickelback meets Linkin Park inputs. Not really what I'd expect would work, but in the hands of the guys in Lee Z, it all makes sense and the entire album (with the one-off exception of "Troublemaker", that's just a standard hard rock tune) flows from start to finish. I do have to pull forward three songs that just are so wonderfully crafted and executed that it almost make no sense; "Save Me", "Alive" and the superb balled "Nights In Dover". These 3 songs are simple amazing, and with those to their credentials, I'm sure Lee Z is on their way towards becoming one of the names to be counted with on the prog-metal scene.
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Claus
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LEVIN, TONY
"Prime Cuts" (Magna Carta / Mascot - provided by Target) - 2 out of 5 points - |
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There's no denying the talents of Tony Levin - he is without a doubt one of the most prominent names on the prog-rock scene over the last couple of decades, known for his work with such great artists as Peter Gabriel, David Bowie, John Lennon, King Crimson and of course his more hard rocking projects Liquid Tension Experiment and Bozzio/Levin/Stevens. The reason for all these grand names to work with Tony Levin? Well, he is just in a league of his own. The guy is a MONSTER on his bass and his Chapman stick! This album from Magna Carta is a best-off-compilation kind of thing, but only spanning the albums he's done for that label. That also means there are only 6 albums to chose material from, and besides one of the tracks being unreleased so far, there's nothing new here. To me it seems kind of greedy on the behalf of Magna Carta, and although Tony Levin deserves all the recognition he can get, this release smells of money-lusting fingers. With that said, if you don't have any of the Bozzio/Levins/Stevens or Liquid Tension Experiment discs, go get this compilation, and enjoy the brilliant bass playing of Tony Levin. A master at work!
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Claus
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LIPID
"Deliver Us From Evil" (Copro Records - provided by Target) - 3 out of 5 points - |
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I am a thrash fan and Lipid is certainly one of the better new thrash bands around in the scene today, which makes me wonder of why I have not heard of them before now, especially because they my fellow Danes. Take a lot of Bay Area thrash like Exodus and Forbidden, and then add some Invocator and a small dose of the Swedish scene ala bands like the Haunted. All this combined with a THICK production by old Invocator frontman Jacob Hansen, and you then end up with what Lipid pretty much sounds like. Not a bad thing to these ears. Not bad at all. The crunchy twin guitar riffing is devastating and catchy as hell. The drums, vocals and bass all sound as if they are supporting this guitar leaded force, which at times sounds a bit uninspired, but who cares as long as it rocks? And it does, it is a full throttle tour de thrash all the way through with breaks, great time changes and some classic grooves that many bands can learn from. But somehow I have the same problem with Lipid as I do with the Haunted; they simply don't get under my skin the way some of my favourite thrash acts do. I can't point my fingers at why this is so, it just is that way. And this is why I cannot give them more than 3 points. Nevertheless, Lipids second full length album "Deliver Us From Evil" is quality thrash release that should please any fan of above mentioned bands, and they make me proud of being a Dane.
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Mads
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LIVERANI, DANIEL "Genius - A Rock Opera" (Frontiers Records - provided by Nordic Metal) - 2 out of 5 points - |
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Yet another musician had thrown himself at the big task of doing a "rock opera", something apparently quite "in" at the moment for heavy metal musicians with ambitions larger than their own ego (not to mention skills). This time it's the young Italian keyboardist Daniele Liverani from the band Empty Tremor, who found it appropriate to create such a large-scaled project. The record label obviously believed in him, cause they must have payed the big bucks to get hold of such an impressive cast of characters for this disc. Among the participants we find such cool singers as Mark Boals (ex-Malmsteen), Steve Walsh (Kansas), Daniel Gildenlöw (Pain Of Salvation), Oliver Hartman (At Vance), John Wetton (Asia) and Lana Lane … not to forget the mighty Midnight (ex-Crimson Glory)! Impressive? Yes! But the result is, and I'm being honest here, far below what might have been expected for such a cast. It's stereotypical heavy metal with over-pompeous choruses, too many self-indulgent progressive metal inputs and a generally lack of good melodies. When I was done listening to this disc the first time, only ONE song stood out to me, and that was "The Right Place" which is a beautiful ballad-duet, sung by Mark Boals and Lana Lane. Not much for a 78 minute long disc, huh? After more listens to the disc, a couple of other tracks opened up to me, such as the neoclassical power metal song "Dreams" or the full power tune "The Glory Of Our Land" sung by Chris Boltendal of Grave Digger (hey, this guy actually delivers his best performance ever on this song). The Oliver Hartman performance on "There's A Human" is fantastic, and I do love Mark Boals voice on especially "Dreams", but overall I'll have to say that most of the performances (even from singers I hold high in regards, such as Daniel Gildenlöw and Midnight) are far below usual standard. I'm not sure if their performances aren't that great because of the music being quite uninspired or what, but I sure had expected more. If you really love rock/metal opera's and concept discs, then "Genius" ain't that bad - it's just not a disc I'll be going back to over and over again. If I want some good rock/metal opera's I'd go with "Ayreon" and "Nostradamus", not "Genius".
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Claus
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LONGING FOR DAWN
"A Treacherous Ascension" (Grau Records - provided by Prophecy) - 2½ out of 5 points - |
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This is slower-than-slow paced funeral doom metal with a touch of death metal to it. Imagine if someone took half of the pacing out of old-school My Dying Bride/Anathema/Saturnus style of doom (the biography mentions Thergothon, Thorr's Hammer and Disembowelment as inspirations, but I don't know these, so …), and you were left with only every second stroke on the drums, every second pick on the guitar strings, and a vocalist who sounds like he is falling asleep while growling out his lyrics (which, judging by songtitles like "The End Of Laughter" and "Ephemeral Cure", must be quite the sleeping pill) - you are bound to end up with Longing For Dawn. That said, "A Treacherous Ascension" is actually not a bad album in any way, but you have to be in the right mood to endure 48 minutes with something as slow paced as this.
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Claus
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LOST IN RHONE
"Beloved Be The Ones Who Sit Down" (Dockyard1 - provided by VME) - 3½ out of 5 points - |
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A band from Belgium??? Now, the world doesn't stand anylonger. Lost In Rhone plays American boy-metal a la Blink 182 a.o., with vocals that reminds me of Trivium and those kinds of bands. Last, there are numerous Iron Maiden'esque guitars floating around here and there in the music, and the mixture of all these things seems to work pretty darn well. I am definitely surprised, and I do expect these young dudes to deliver even better and more mature material for the future, since the band was formed only 2 years ago. There's a little bit too much absence of a flow in the song-order on this album, but it's a thing that will be corrected for the future, when these guys find their very personal style. Definitely worth checking out.
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Lars
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LOUDNESS
“Racing” (Drakkar – provided by Target) - 1 out of 5 points – |
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AAAAARRRGGGHHH…shut up! Damnit, groovy power thrash from Japan, with a voice that reminds of the leadsinger of AC/DC. How on Earth these guys have succeeded in making 19 albums is a riddle to me. This is incredibly bad, and boring. I can’t listen through the whole album in one shot…and there are actually 2 albums here - One new release as well as a re-recorded “best of” bonus disc. Who the hell would like a bonus CD, when the actual album makes you sick??? Not me, that’s for sure. With a 3 page info sheet, the story of Loudness is far too long and I can only hope that someone will stop the madness of releasing more albums with this band. Most of their music is based upon irritating “solo’s”. They are not really solo’s, but guitar-sounds so annoying, that an outbreak of herpes in your entire face on your first date with Pamela Anderson seems like a salvation. No more Loudness for me.
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Lars
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LOVECHILD
"Soul Collector" (Escape Music - provided by Zink) - ½ out of 5 points - |
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From Liechtenstein of all places (!!!) comes a band with arguebly one of the stupidest bandnames ever - LOVECHILD. Yup, let's just leave that name hanging there for a while … Lovechild … hahahahahaha. Okay, back to the real world, and let's talk about what's on the actual disc; it's melodic hard rock with a bit of punch here and there, not too far from Bonfire or a softer Axxis if you ask me. But, the songwriting quality of those two definitely aren't at hand here, instead we're served with a bunch of disjointed songs that doesn't sound finished in any way whatsoever. In fact, these songs sounds like a bunch of riffs put together way too quickly. I can just imagine a day in the rehearsal room of Lovechild: "Hey guys, we really need to finish this album now, even if we don't have any songs ready". "Yeah, but didn't we have some riffs here and there?". "Sure, should we just put them together into a song?". "Even better, let's use them for all 12 songs on the album, I'm sure people will believe it, if we tell them we've spent most of 2005 writing these songs". And so it came about that Lovechild (bwahaha) made this crappy album. It doesn't even save them that they have none other than Werner Schweizer on vocals (yup, the guy who sang on Satrox' 2 albums from '90 and '92, and on the song "Liar" delivered one of the most fantastic high-pitch vocal performances I've ever put my ears to). And it certainly doesn't save them that Tommy Vetterli (ex-Coroner) have produced the album so that the abrupted guitar riffs stick out more than ever, and the drums sound absolutely chaotic. Sorry, but this album is just nowhere good enough. It's almost so bad, that the bandname is the best part of it all … almost ;-)
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Claus
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LUNA FIELD
"Diva" (Black Lotus Records - provided by VME) - 3½ out of 5 points - |
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Judging by the title of the album, the band name, the cover art and the band picture I was sure that this German band was playing either gothic or black metal. Big was my surprise then, when I actually got around to listen to the disc, as this was mostly old-school death metal inspired by the Florida-wave of the late eighties/early nineties. Coming across as a refined version of the early albums by Morbid Angel, Deicide or perhaps even Monstrosity, this German band delivers a brilliant second opus with "Diva", an album that surely deserves to be heard by the death-metal fans out there. To, however, make the band more up-to-date they've decided on integrating synth and prog parts here and there (listen to the middle part of "Camouflage", which might have some black/goth metal hints to it), or the beginning of "Moral Masquerade" (which actually reminds me a bit of Arcturus) - and topped it all of with a really strong production … okay, perhaps the bass-drums sounds quite "hollow", but that's probably more a matter of taste, as I'm quite sure this is how the band wanted it. Overall a really good disc, placed somewhere between old school death and avantgardistic black, which took my well by surprise.
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Claus
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LUNATICA
"The Edge of Infinity" (Frontiers Records - provided by Zink) - 3 out of 5 points - |
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Lunatica plays a fine mixture of symphonic and melodic rock/metal with occasional nice orchestrations a la Nightwish, but mostly the band is playing it safe with somewhat predictable, but nicely performed, melodic rock. The female vocalist, Andrea Dätwyler, does a good job, and actually her performance grows throughout the album. Still, I would really like if she took some time to develop her vibrato, as I believe it would lift the compositions even more. An interesting fact is Lunatica's use of commercial song writers. "Who you are" is a commercial song suitable for MTV - and no wonder, as the song was written by Carl Falk and Sebastian Thott(!) Who are they, you ask? Well, they are a couple of Swedish guys who became famous for writing and producing pop acts like Westlife and Britney Spears, and with their crowd pleasing song writing talents combined with proper marketing, Lunatica could very well be put in the same league as bands like Evanescence and Within Temptation.
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Martin
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