DEATH IS JUST A FEELING

I can't blame my colleague Angelo for getting excited about this release from Amadeus Awad, who has progressively (sic) moved into more progressive patterns since his early releases. What seemed to be a turn in his compositional mood in the EP "Schizanimus" seems to have fully materialised in "Death is Just a Feeling".

Securing a host of extremely talented musicians has clearly paid off in this release but don't get fooled by this alone; the compositions in this album show maturity and attention to detail. We will never know if the highlight tracks "Sleep Paralysis" and "Lonesome Clown" could have ever sounded any better without the haunting voice of Anneke van Giersbergen (any fan of The Gathering can admit bias, me being among the first). Beautiful, uplifting melodies, nicely filtered influences (with sounds resembling from Phideaux to Ayreon) and a rather dark atmosphere that always helps. "Death is Just a Feeling" successfully mixes mellow tunes of crossover prog with dynamic progressive metal passages of lush keyboards, while excellent acoustic guitar catches the attention throughout.

Lyrics are cohesive, simple but not simplistic and portray the feeling that Amadeus seems to have wanted to give (author's perception). The overall "concept" surrounding the album is supported by inspired, minimalistic artwork and the whole package is professional beyond doubt. The two bonus tracks (from "Schizanimus" and "Time of the Equinox") are nice add-ons but don't necessarily fit with the mood of the album.

"Death is Just a Feeling" does not break new ground in progressive rock (which would be the next step for AA in the author's view) but it seems like a lot of effort and emotion has gone into this piece of art, rendering it among the highlights for 2015. Promising, worth investing and let's keep an eye on future releases.

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