Think Tank Media
2012
1. A Dream Full Of Fire
2. Maybe We'll Meet Again
3. El Dorado
4. Darkness Falls
5. Hotels
6. Believe
7. Life Of The Party
8. Gone Are The Days
9. Moon God
10. In Exile
This is another review on the fringes of metal, but Lana Lane is an artist I've always enjoyed. The woman has a great voice and has always walked the line between progressive rock and metal in a way that suits her. The metal connections are obvious in some of the people who she has worked with in her band, etc including her own husband/guitarist Erik Norlander and people such as Arjen Lucassen.
From the first track of El Dorado Hotel I got the feeling something wasn't quite right with this songwriting session though. A Dream Full Of Fire was just too familiar in it's formula and the chorus' utilization of the rhyme fire/desire/higher was enough to evoke a groan from me. Basically, that track had nothing new, inventive, or particularly interesting going on and it was evident from the first listen.
Diving deeper into the album, a lot of it just fails to leave much of an impression. There's nothing really bad here, but nor is there a lot that keeps my attention. Something is definitely missing. This album just doesn't seem to have many good riffs or choruses and falls firmly into the realm of typical melodic rock/metal. The little touches like well used symphonic backing and the occasional really metal sounding riff don't really show up here and the album suffers as a result. The closest this album gets to reaching outside the box is the strange inclusion of vocal distortion on Believe and Moon God which did nothing for me. There's really only one song on this album that jumps out of me and that's Gone Are The Days which actually has kind of a cool groove to it. Darkness Falls has a pretty decent melodic feel as well with a little bit of heaviness in some of the riffs, but I wouldn't say it's her best work either.
Basically, I'd have to say it sounds like the band phoned this one in for the most part. It's the first time I've felt this way about a Lana Lane album and it is a definite disappointment. El Dorado Hotel is the first album of Lana Lane's I just haven't enjoyed all that much.
Highlights: Gone Are The Days, Darkness Falls
Rating - 2.5/5
2. Maybe We'll Meet Again
3. El Dorado
4. Darkness Falls
5. Hotels
6. Believe
7. Life Of The Party
8. Gone Are The Days
9. Moon God
10. In Exile
This is another review on the fringes of metal, but Lana Lane is an artist I've always enjoyed. The woman has a great voice and has always walked the line between progressive rock and metal in a way that suits her. The metal connections are obvious in some of the people who she has worked with in her band, etc including her own husband/guitarist Erik Norlander and people such as Arjen Lucassen.
From the first track of El Dorado Hotel I got the feeling something wasn't quite right with this songwriting session though. A Dream Full Of Fire was just too familiar in it's formula and the chorus' utilization of the rhyme fire/desire/higher was enough to evoke a groan from me. Basically, that track had nothing new, inventive, or particularly interesting going on and it was evident from the first listen.
Diving deeper into the album, a lot of it just fails to leave much of an impression. There's nothing really bad here, but nor is there a lot that keeps my attention. Something is definitely missing. This album just doesn't seem to have many good riffs or choruses and falls firmly into the realm of typical melodic rock/metal. The little touches like well used symphonic backing and the occasional really metal sounding riff don't really show up here and the album suffers as a result. The closest this album gets to reaching outside the box is the strange inclusion of vocal distortion on Believe and Moon God which did nothing for me. There's really only one song on this album that jumps out of me and that's Gone Are The Days which actually has kind of a cool groove to it. Darkness Falls has a pretty decent melodic feel as well with a little bit of heaviness in some of the riffs, but I wouldn't say it's her best work either.
Basically, I'd have to say it sounds like the band phoned this one in for the most part. It's the first time I've felt this way about a Lana Lane album and it is a definite disappointment. El Dorado Hotel is the first album of Lana Lane's I just haven't enjoyed all that much.
Highlights: Gone Are The Days, Darkness Falls
Rating - 2.5/5
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