PHANTOM'S OPERA '99

Phantom's Opera plays energetic, ambitious, polished hard rock, somewhat progged up with mood-setting keyboards and creatively-layered instrumental and vocal arrangements. This welcome reissue of their self-titled debut shows the band before their masterful, idiosyncratic style had fully matured, but it's still an outstanding hard rock record, with intense, killer tracks like the heavy AOR and gripping chorus hook of "Just A Matter Of Time," the galloping, late-80's-influenced metal of "Lie Laura," the dark, moody melodic rock of "Child Known Love," and the emotional, sweetly-textured ballad "Love's A Painful Game." This re-release also includes four brighter, more mainstream-sounding bonus tracks, like the driving AOR of "Can't Stop Me Now," the full-throttle pomp-metal of "Next In Line," and the rolling, Queen-like rock of "That's Fashion." There's nothing quite like Phantom's Opera; they are not especially adventurous by prog standards, but if you're a fan of innovative, moody hard rock, don't miss this album.