Some January releases that are worth checking out
Lalu - Paint the Sky
Lalu is the project of Vivien Lalu. I had heard of him before, but thought he was a sort French Ayreon. Now I don't like Ayreon (Star One is better, so maybe trying that one next month) and I never checked out his music. I even saw he released a live album recorded in P60, in hindsight a miss for me not going. Paint the Sky is receiving very good reviews basically everywhere I read about the album. My main interest was drawn when this time one vocalist is taking care of business and that man is Damian Wilson. Well plus a rather perfect Steve Walsh participation on the title-song So I checked a song liked it and ordered the album. And yes I do like the album, but not as much as many reviews make you believe. This album is progrock with many Yes influences. So those who like Yes, but are not the biggest fan of Jon Anderson (me) find lots to like here. Several songs are very good (Title track, The Chosen Ones) and the album is a pleasant ride. Still I am not as overwhelmed as I hoped to be. I do like Yes, but not every day or moment. Same is a bit true for this album. But maybe it should grow further on me. Most extreme song is Standing at the Gates of Hell. It goes from the strongest opening of the album to the most boring jazzy bits ending fine again. So listen before buying and give the album some time.
Giant - Shifting Time
Giant that band that should have been huge late eighties when they released Last of the Runaways. 1992 follow up Time to Burn was almost as good and why did they not become a million selling household name is beyond me. I saw them in 92 in de Melkweg and live they confirmed their status. Hans told me he also saw them in Paradiso before that, but I have no active memory of that as Mark Rutte would say. Now Dan Huff vocals and lead guitar is gone and this is their meanwhile fifth album. I did miss albums III and Promise Land, but Shifting time is one hell of a comeback for me. This is melodic rock that I love: great voice Kent Hill and even better guitars by John Roth. The rhythm section is the same as the old days. As this is a Frontiers release almost all songs are co-written by Allessandro Del Vecchio. He is often under critics, but what he did for Shifting Time works for me. So overall this album shall not win any originality prices, but for me it is the highlight of 2022 so far.
Toundra - Hex
Sometimes one review and one listen is enough. This time it was Matt the man of much metal who wrote about Hex. Than I watched the three parts of El Odio on Youtube and I was sold. This is instrumental music that speaks to me and overall heavy enough to keep me hooked. Inside Out released the three parts of El Odio in one go and it is worth your time watching that once. Toundra themselves are from Spain, so who knows they come over to Portugal anytime soon. They played ProgPower, but that was 2013 the last year I missed the festival due to work. If you are not afraid of instrumental albums, you might want to give this one a try.
Wilderun - Epigone
This album I was looking out for most in January. After all their previous album Veil of Imagination almost made it to my album of the year 2019, only losing out to Arch/Matheos. So expectations were kind of high and first listening was therefore disappointing. When hearing the first song Exhaler for the first time I got afraid. Where was the power, the bombastic metal and the grunt? It sounded to me like they were doing a Leprous (going boring over time after brilliant Tall Puppy and Bilateral). Well I was wrong. Now that I heard the album plenty of times it has lots to offer. The second song finally turns heavy after a few minutes. It is with Passenger and Identifier that they find their strenght again and with Distraction I-III they close the album in style. Well they don't close it yet as Distraction Nulla follows instrumentally and then a Radiohead cover closes te album. I don't know that original but they make it sound like them. In the end the album keeps on growing on me, but I also skip the pointless instrumental Ambition. Not sure how I rate this album in a few months, but I do still hope they will be reconfirmed fro PPE. The good bits are really good and the calm opening has been forgiven already
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