TYRANNY

Ahhh... Here it is... My 1st review... And I start with a supreme album! "Tyranny" is one of the greatest progressive metal albums ever... To Bad this band is so underrated by prog lovers...

What's the concept all about? Why, I won't tell You!!! Buy Yourself This Cd & Room V and just find out... The album is dividied into 2 acts. I can only say its a quite modern story, including computer hacking, a dangerous bio virus, falling in love by internet & more:)... Some may find it cheesy a bit, but the emotional, symphonic & powerfull music + the greatest vocal harmonies ever know to mankind fight the feeling away!!!

The intro, Stiletto in the Sand is a small instrumental show-off. It's clear that these people know how to use their instruments just like Dream Theater, Symphony X & other prog metals greatest. Although these 2 mins of musical acrobatics are quite complicated, they'r still full of very nice melodies, that may even sound catchy to one's ear! 4/5

The 1st normal song is "War for Sale"... If You like this one then You're a Shadow Gallery fan for sure... Very fast, great melodies, great keyboard that add a nice symphonic touch & awesome harmonic vocals that give You shivers!Mike Baker is a very one of the bes tvocalists out there! The music isn't dark, though the lyrics aren't quite happy... 4/5

"Out of Nowhere" is a bit slower then the previous track... A nice & lazy guitar soloing throuout + a bit dreamy (Might I say "High"?) vocal style by Mike & the band. At the ned We experiance a great Kevin Mooresque Synth Solo & a nice flute part by Band Mastermind Carl Cadden-James... Higly enjoyable... 4/5

Its time for the 1st higlight of the album (Actually the whole "Tyranny" is a higlight!)! The Song "Mystery"!Soaring vocals, upbeat tempo, Awesome shredding guitar solos, again cool majestic Keyboard parts in the vein of early Dream Theater make this song the perfect, tipical SG song! The vocals again give me shivers everytime I hear them! Adictive chorus! 5/5

The 1st real ballad on the album... "Hope for Us?" Gives me shivers & makes me wanna cry everytime I hear it... Great piano by Chris Inges, Nice emotional Lyrics, great'n'melodic guitar solo & a superbly beautyful vocal performance by Baker & co. ... Another higlight of many... 5/5 This song is very symphonic... Quite slow tempo, again a very majestic & dreamy chorus... I praise Wehrkampf/Allman for the mesmerising guitar work... The song "Victims" opened the world of Shadow Gallery for me. I loved it to death, So I've grown just a bit tired of it.. still great though. 4/5

What have we here? Just a filler song or something similar to Stiletto? Never! "Broken" is a samall sparkling diamond that explodes with emotion every time You play it! Mike Baker's voice makes me wanna cry everytime I put this on... The lyrics are very Sad & poethic... 2 mins of sheer Sadness & beauty... And the end of Act 1 5/5

The 2nd part of the album begins with a big symphonic metal blast... "I Belive" has everything that a perfect Song should have! Soaring vocals, heavy guitar rffs, melodic & tastefull solos, great Rythm Section work + Kevin James Labrie singing a small part! Long, but never boring... I was in Awe when I 1st heard it... 5/5

Now this is quite similar to "Mystery"... And as briliant & adictive... "Roads Of Thunder" has all the pros of that song... again very melodic Chrorus... Who writes such briliant melodies stuff nowadays? 5/5

A very interesting song here.... "Spoken Words" is a great vocal male/female duet! Mike Baker again shows how awesome his voice is! Some moments are allmost Operatic! Chris Inges does some more great background piano... But what bout Laura Jaeger, the "Mystery"? Never heard of her, but she's got a hell of a voice. Very Powerfull, but also emotional... 5/5

Another powerfull, long track here... "New World Order" has yet another guest singer, who is unknown to me... But he still does an awesome job, with his powerfull, cold, evil operatic voice! Even when You don't know the lyrics, You feel that he must must sing the "bad guy" part... This piece of music made my jaw drop just like "I Belive" we have some great instrumental Acrobatics here! Dream Theater aren't the ownly perfect instrumentalists around! 5/5 This is the 2nd instrumental song on "Tyranny" Its far longer then Stiletto, but its worse! It gets a bit boring... I know the are awesome at pleaying their instruments, but it'd be better if they left that as a part of their music, not concetrate on it... 3/5

A nice melow track comes next... "Ghost of a Chance" is great change from the endless solos of "Chased". More great emotional & sad vocals by Baker... You can actually hear that Ghost of a chance in his voice... the feeling is awesome! But what comes next is even better... 4/5

The final track... And what a song it is! I first felk kinda strange when I saw the title... "Chrismass Day"? Are Shadow Gallery gonna give me a symphonic version of "Jingle Bells"? Thank God no! I hate writing everything again & again... I hate using the same words & expresions all over gain... But My English is just sooo limited... It starts with a chill... Then the come the sadest piano & synths I've ever heard since "Space-dye Vest"! Inges is truely marvelous! Baker does it again also! i must say that his vocals made me actually Cry once... Theres a powerfull and long guitar solo in the middle but It does not destroy the whole Song... Its strange, but full of passion... Perfect... Not sure who played it, so I'll just say that both Allman & Wehrkampf are awesome! The album ends with the most depresingly beautyful vocals & lyrics known to my small & young mind... 5/5

This album brought me to my knees... Its Perefect... Sometimes Heavy, sometimes mellow, allways melodic, allways emotional (Sorry for overusing this word throughout the review) and allways symphonic... It is allso very complex... Perefect Modern Prog? Yes indeed!