Sometimes you just cannot describe how a band sounds on their newly released album. This again happened to me when I played A Time Of Shadow on my CD player. The music is performed by the Irish band Dead Heroes Club is without doubt inspired by several progressive rock bands, but it ‘s very difficult to mention any names. I also have to confess that it took me a while before I noticed that they had made something rather special with their second release. In several other reviews on the internet they raved about the band’s music, but I could not understand why. But sometimes you have to play a record several times before it reveals it’s real beauty. The most important member of the band is without any doubt lead singer and keyboard player Liam Campbell. His voice reminds me of John Waite (The Babys & Bad English), but also Fish and Cat Stevens came to mind. His playing on the keyboards is very strong but not in the style of musicians such as Keith Emerson or Rick Wakeman who like to show off. He does not play solos that often, but when he does play one, it certainly has a certain style that I like a lot. The same can be said about guitarist Gerry Mc Gerigal. His riffs are very strong and he has a lot of groove in his playing. Gary Chandler demonstrates the same kind of melodic playing on his guitar The six songs on this album also have a fine groove and have a not too fast, up-tempo beat. It was not easy for me to stand still while I played this album. All the songs have a pleasant drive and are very much song orientated. Also production wise this CD sounds perfect. They have put a lot of energy in the stereo mix. Beautiful! Which bands could I compare this kind of music? Maybe a little bit of Jadis on some of the tracks, or maybe early Genesis. But for me was it more important that I enjoyed the music from the Dead Heroes Club a lot rather than find out whom I could compare them to. My advice is to check out their website and hear some of their Mp3 files. **** Henri Strik (edited by Melody Oakley) Where to buy? |
