DEAD AIR FOR RADIOS

Kevin Moore leaves Dream Theatre after doing an amazing job and what would someone expect him to do would be to create a solo album close to what he did with DT in order to keep a fan base. However Kevin Moore doesn't seem to care much about all that and what he does is record a minimalist and expressive album. Kevin Moore shows here what a huge musician he is. He knows exactly what to do no matter the type of music. From the complexity and virtuosity he turns to a style much closer to massive attack than prog metal but what is really amazing is that in both situations he does an excellent job.

"Dead air for Radios" is a wonderful album full of ambience. It reminds me at times Peter Gabriel's solo work. Joey Vera and Mark Zonder from Fates Warning, with whom he had worked before, participate in this truly unique album. Especially Mark Zonder, who is one of my favorite drummers in the prog-metal genre, shows what a genius he is with an amazing performance (check Undertow for example). One might think that the short length of the songs, the absence of the solos and complex compositions doesn't let the album get deep. It's really the opposite cause sometimes less is more (if not most of the times) and this is a great example. Jason Anderson's temperate playing adds to the ambience while the "brain" behind this cd apart from playing keyboards, sings throughout the album with a simple but memorable and touching voice.

Overall, a very pleasant album. For those who love space rock it's a must really but I strongly recommend this to DT fans, in order to see that Kevin Moore isn't just a "flashy" keybordist but a great musician as well.

A few info for those who want to get into this album deeper: The speech synthesizer in "Hell Mary" recites a paragraph from the Bayside prophecies by Veronica Lueken The voice of a woman repeating words and numbers in a foreign language during the track "Even the Waves" is from a famous numbers station broadcast on shortwave frequencies.

Further listening: Anathema - A natural disaster [2004]