ProgRock Records
2010
1. Barricade
2. Whirlwind
3. The Crown
4. Loyalty
5. My Father's Son
6. When God Smiled on Us
7. Need
8. Spiral
9. Victory
The first album from Roswell Six very much caught my attention. The concept behind this band of telling the story of the Terra Incognita books through song was an interesting idea and I am a fan of Erik Norlander and more particularly Lana Lane. When I heard a new one was coming I was certainly interested in hearing more from the assembly of musicians/vocalists on the last album.
Unfortunately, this is not at all what I got. Aside from the name it's pretty hard to tell this is in any way the same band. Really, besides the fact Erik Norlander remains the songwriter and man behind the band it isn't. The only vocalist who remains from the last album to front these songs is Michael Sadler and the rest of the vocalists recruited are not as strong. On this album the other singers include Steve Walsh, Sass Jordan, Alex Froese, Nick Storr, Charlie Dominici, Juan Roos, and Arjen Lucassen, none of whom greatly impress me.
More of a let down though is the shift in musical direction as this seems heavier, but not to it's benefit. While the last album bridged progressive metal and rock with a symphonic touch that did remind me of Lana Lane, this one seems like more of a mediocre 'heavy' progressive metal album with none of that symphonic flare. Actually progressive is probably even a stretch. Seriously, this sounds nothing at all like the debut's style of which I was looking forward to more of. Also, call me crazy but on an album covering high fantasy storytelling I expect some dramatic, epic flare and this does not have it at all. None of these songs have that big punch and thus the album ends up lacking standouts.
This album is basically a total letdown for me and fairly mediocre. Actually the best expression of this album's lack of vocal power in particular can be seen in the fact my favorite track is the heavy and somewhat epic sounding instrumental Battleground which tells a better story through it's music than any of the songs here do through the lyrics. I wouldn't really recommend this one as it's just not a very successful prog metal or rock album.
Highlights: Battleground, Barricade
Rating - 2.5/5
2. Whirlwind
3. The Crown
4. Loyalty
5. My Father's Son
6. When God Smiled on Us
7. Need
8. Spiral
9. Victory
The first album from Roswell Six very much caught my attention. The concept behind this band of telling the story of the Terra Incognita books through song was an interesting idea and I am a fan of Erik Norlander and more particularly Lana Lane. When I heard a new one was coming I was certainly interested in hearing more from the assembly of musicians/vocalists on the last album.
Unfortunately, this is not at all what I got. Aside from the name it's pretty hard to tell this is in any way the same band. Really, besides the fact Erik Norlander remains the songwriter and man behind the band it isn't. The only vocalist who remains from the last album to front these songs is Michael Sadler and the rest of the vocalists recruited are not as strong. On this album the other singers include Steve Walsh, Sass Jordan, Alex Froese, Nick Storr, Charlie Dominici, Juan Roos, and Arjen Lucassen, none of whom greatly impress me.
More of a let down though is the shift in musical direction as this seems heavier, but not to it's benefit. While the last album bridged progressive metal and rock with a symphonic touch that did remind me of Lana Lane, this one seems like more of a mediocre 'heavy' progressive metal album with none of that symphonic flare. Actually progressive is probably even a stretch. Seriously, this sounds nothing at all like the debut's style of which I was looking forward to more of. Also, call me crazy but on an album covering high fantasy storytelling I expect some dramatic, epic flare and this does not have it at all. None of these songs have that big punch and thus the album ends up lacking standouts.
This album is basically a total letdown for me and fairly mediocre. Actually the best expression of this album's lack of vocal power in particular can be seen in the fact my favorite track is the heavy and somewhat epic sounding instrumental Battleground which tells a better story through it's music than any of the songs here do through the lyrics. I wouldn't really recommend this one as it's just not a very successful prog metal or rock album.
Highlights: Battleground, Barricade
Rating - 2.5/5
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