KHALI

Italy has produced many great bands through the years. Next in line are the prog metal super-group KHALI with their self-titled debut album. Founded by members from such bands as ABIGHOR, ARCHANGEL, MESMERIZE, MOON OF STEEL, N8, SKYLARK, TIME M'ACHINE and WHITE SKULL.

Their music sounds like a mix between QUEENSRYCHE's "Empire" and TIME MACHINE's "Eternity Ends" with heavy guitars and a great singer. Although the members are good musicians their strength lies in the strong melodies and arrangements. Many of the songs are very good, but unfortunately there's also some easily forgotten ones too.

A really interesting release from a band with a potential to become even better! Recommended!

KHALI is an Italian band made up of former members of TIME MACHINE, and they offer up a melodic and accessible brand of Metal. If you know TIME MACHINE you know they change vocalists constantly. The vocalist for KHALI (Folco Orlandini) sang on the "Act II:Galileo" album. He sings in English.The bass player and leader Lorenzo Deho also plays some background synths as they have no full time keyboard player.

"Cyberpleasure" gets off on the wrong foot for me. I don't like the lyrics at all, in fact they're humerous because of how bad they are. The music is solid though. "Another Day" has a nice heavy soundscape. Vocals a minute in with riffs in tow. A much better song. A calm 3 1/2 minutes in followed by a tasteful guitar solo. Some more good riffs and bass 5 minutes in. "Somebody Haunts Me" has a melodic soundscape that's not as heavy as the previous song. Excellent guitar after 3 minutes that goes on until almost the 4 minute mark.

"Wind Of Ages-Chapter I" is the longest and best track on here. It's 9 minutes long. It opens with the sound of the wind blowing and vocal sounds before the guitar then background synths come in. Great sound. It gets more powerful after 6 minutes with some killer guitar. "Wind Of Ages-Chapter II" is slower paced but still powerful. I love it. "Spiritual Distortions" is a mid paced tune that's not very dynamic. it's ok. "Heaven Again" is better at first as the riffs lead the way, but it settles down when the vocals arrive. "So Far Away" seems to get better as it plays out. An incredibly intense sound after 2 minutes followed by a ripping guitar solo.

Good album that I think will appeal to a lot of people who are into TIME MACHINE and melodic Metal. I wish it was a little more consistant because then it would easily be a 4 star record for me.

Khali this unknown melodic prog metal outfit from Italy, had one album so far released in 2000 selftitled. Well, this band has members from another italian prog metal band Time Machine, and the music is quite similar in many parts with them. This is an ok album, nothing special at all but not bad in the end, melodic prog metal , most of the time with nice vocals, some epic melodic/symphonic passages are to be found, the instrumental sections are ok , but far from excellent, imagine a combination of Queensryche, Fates Warning and Time Machine. So, all in all, a forgotten band, a forgotten album, but I think fans of prog metal can give a spin. 3 stars is best I can give, ok, but nothing more.