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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thanks Guys!, November 29, 2009
I love Shadow Gallery and was very saddened by the death of Mike Baker. That is why I was so glad to learn that the band would continue on in the memory of the fallen singer. Of course, my first thought was who can replace Baker? And the answer is no one, but new singer, Brian Ashland, is very good in his own right. To be honest, when I first listened to Digital Ghosts (before I read who the guests were) I thought that Geoff Tate had sang on a few of the songs. Specifically, the songs Pain and Gold Dust. I later found out that Ashland sang these songs. I was very surprised by this, because it really sounds like Geoff Tate...I mean really. So can Ashland hold his own? Most definitely. For the other aspects of the album, this is still Shadow Gallery playing exceptional progressive metal. If you are a fan of their other albums, you will love Digital Ghosts. Even without Baker. The compositions are still complex yet accessible. The instrumentation is still impeccable. The songs are memorable. It is most definitely a Shadow Gallery album, and I couldn't be happier with where they are in the post-Baker era.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Latest, the best, November 28, 2009
This review is from: Digital Ghosts (Audio CD)
Shadow Gallery is one of the finest, most skilled bands I've heard in a while. I mean a while. I listened to all the Prog bands in the 70's, despaired of the falloff of Prog in the 80's and rejoiced about it's resurgance in the 90's. So by now,there seems to be a new and higher level of musicianship in the world. Thankyou! These guys know their instruments, but also know the craft of producing clever and interesting music. I'll admit, I had to listen to "Digital Ghosts" a couple of times to wrap my brain around it. I found myself listening to it more often until I could hear it in my head. Despite the fact that they lost one of their musical brothers, this latest effort will satiate anyone's appitite for a great album. Highly recommended Prog music.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A New Chapter Of Shadow Gallery, November 24, 2009
This review is from: Digital Ghosts (Audio CD)
Shadow Gallery sure had there hands full when Mike Baker died. I was completely stunned when this occurred; he was one of my top favorite vocalists next to James Labrie, Ray Adler, Geoff Tate, Roy Khan, and Tobias Sammet. But alas, we cannot expect Shadow Gallery, or any amazing band like them, to just sit on their hands and stop playing music. If they did stop, we wouldn't have an amazing album like `Digital Ghosts' to enjoy.
The new singer Brian Ashland sounds like a mixture of Midnight (Crimson Glory), Warrel Dane (Nevermore), Geoff Tate (Queensryche), Mike Baker, and Daniel Gildenlöw (Pain Of Salvation) when singing at a slower tempo. Is this a bad thing? Absolutely not. When he sings rough though, he has a very unique voice. Ashland also plays guitar and plays solos on the new album. That's a triple threat guitar we now have for Shadow Gallery. It's certainly awesome to hear and appreciate. Ashland is a jack of all trades and his involvement certainly adds a unique feeling to the band they've never had before. And it's a good thing...
Lyrically this album is about loss. Losing never sounded so good before. Carl Cadden-James lyrics along with the rest of the band make this a truly unique album. Lyrically though, it's very poetic and filled with hope and sometimes despair. It's all up for interpretation.
On the album there are plenty of surprises. You're going to hear a Shadow Gallery album like you've never heard before. Here we go:
With Honor - Wow....what a starting song. For a long while it was my favorite song on the whole album but Haunted soon filled that gap. The song starts off with some haunting keyboards right into a pounding fast Shadow Gallery riff that is reminiscent to Stiletto in the Sand. The singer comes right in totally setting the mood for the entire song. Expect this song to slow up, speed up, and then do a couple laps around your brain at 180 mph. Layer upon layer of music to digest. The super melodic Chorus sticks in your head for days. The sound is huge. The instrumentals sections are strange and fun. One of the best parts is the A cappella midsong. So much fun to sing in your car with others...kind of like Bohemian Rhapsody! It all raps up at around 7:00 with the chorus even bigger than before, it's easy to be swept into the music and want to sing too. The song ends with some beautiful chilling melodies. If you can imagine the words coming to life and telling a story through it's music...that is what the end of the song does. For fans of soothing spacey moody music...you'll love the last 1:30 minutes of end of the song as I did - 10 out of 10 here.
Venom - POW! A fist full of Shadow Gallery is what hit's you in the face here. The very talented singer from Suspyre sings this one along with Carl Cadden-James ( bass player of SG) Probably the heaviest Shadow Gallery song to date. The riffs are crunchy and scary. It's kind of hard not to bang your head to this song. The singing is just awesome! The guitar solos are so fast that it sounds like John Petrucci from the viral Phycho exercises videos on Youtube. 10 out of 10 here.
Pain - A mixed variety song here...hmm...It seems Shadow Gallery is breaking the mold of their last album which was very ballad based and playing heavier. Ashland's voice really sets the mood here. The chorus is extremely melodic and is catchy. The song really reminds me of `Victims' from their Tyranny album. 10 out of 10 here.
Gold Dust - It's easy to see why Shadow Gallery picked this song as their single. It's got everything...instrumentals, great singing, huge choruses, heavy fast guitars, with many twists and turns. I heard they are working on a video for this for Headbangers ball and MTV. Fans who went to the listening party said the video was a lot of fun to watch. I'm pretty excited about this getting on the air. 10 out of 10 here.
Strong - Ralf Sheefers ...what a VOICE. He gets a lot of comparisons to Rob Halford but I don't think that's very fair. This song moves around a lot from mid tempo to fast tempo. The guitar solos are awesome but my personal favorite instrument to listen to on this song is the keyboards. The breakdown instrumental at 3:40 is so cool...reminds me a lot of a mix of Boston's `Smokin' keyboard solos. Some parts of the song kind of have a circus like feel to it and I mean that in a good way...so many cool tricks and interesting sounds thrown at you. 10 out of 10 here.
Digital Ghost - Most mid tempo song on the album. It definitely feels like a cool down song with lots of warm solos and keyboards. Just sit back and let these guys sing soaring melodies in your head while you close your eyes. It's very soothing. They get a bit jazzy here and there too which is a lot of fun. 9.8 out of 10 here.
Haunted - Where to start...I don't really know ha ha. The intro is so unique. Imagine your walking into another dimension through a tunnel. You hear Shadow gallery in the distance...you walk through the dark tunnel until you reach a place filled with gorgeous beautiful music with layers of melodic voices and sounds you'll never forget. The song speeds up around 5:00. It's quite the journey you take in the song if you can imagine. I know my description is a bit strange, but this song feels like your exploring a dream. Put on a set of headsets and take the journey for yourself and see what I'm talking about. 100 out of ten 10
This is not earthly music...this is music of a different dimension. If that's what you want, then you should get this album. This album will take hundreds of listens to decipher it's secrets. If there is one thing Shadow Gallery always does is that hide things in their music to reward the listener who truly loves their music and listens to a lot. I won't spoil anything...hear it for yourself!
Don't be quick to judge the album...as with all prog metal, it takes awhile to get inside but once it does you'll remember just why you are a fan of music like this. This is by far their most accessible album but also a new direction. Has Mike Baker's passing end this band? No way! His spirit is in their music and is giving them something we've never heard before.
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