BEAUTIFUL SHADE OF GREY

For his fourth solo album ? the first in nearly a decade ? Dream Theater's singer James LaBrie has mixed things up considerably, starting with the musicians he has brought in to collaborate with him on the new record. Keyboard player Matt Guillory, who had been LaBrie's wingman of choice for his previous solo outings, does not feature on Beautiful Shade of Grey, and neither do Ray Riendeau (bass) and Peter Wildoer (drums), who had both played on the singer's previous two records. The new album has instead been written together with Eden's Curse bassist Paul Logue who here also plays acoustic rhythm guitar. Logue then recruited his fellow bandmate Christian Pulkkinen to play keyboards, while LaBrie's son, Chance, was recruited behind the kit. Lead guitarist Marco Sfogli (PFM) is thus the only musician on the new album who had also played with LaBrie on previous records.

The lineup changes are mirrored by a significant departure from the sound LaBrie had explored on previous records. In fact, Beautiful Shade of Grey is as far removed from metal as anything that LaBrie has sung on before. The album's 10 tracks explore instead a musical space at the intersection between progressive rock and acoustic hard rock, visiting places that have more affinity with bands like Spock's Beard, their melodic rock offshoot Pattern-Seeking Animals, or Troika (Neal Morse's recent collaboration with Nick D'Virgilio and Ross Jennings), than Dream Theater or other prog metal acts. The songs are predominantly acoustic, even when they build up to a full-band approach. Acoustic guitars, piano, and Hammond organ provide the songs' harmonic texture, which Chance LaBrie's restrained drumming is careful not to overpower. Meanwhile, Marco Sfogli interjects some technical but exquisitely melodic solos, frequently using the acoustic guitar too.

This rich but delicate musical tapestry offers a perfect background for James LaBrie to explore the entirety of his vocal range and skills, in a way that he is often unable to do with his main band. On "Give and Take" the singer reaches the lowest notes in his range, and the contrast with the high notes he hits for instance on "SuperNova Girl" testifies to his impressive range. Elsewhere, LaBrie has a chance to show how expressive his voice can be when he does not have to sing melodies over speed-of-light metal anthems ("Sunset Ruin", "Am I Right"). Meanwhile, the gorgeous multiple voice harmony at the beginning of "Conscience Calling" provides an insight into what some of the singer's influences on this album may have been (Journey, Foreigner).

Beautiful Shade of Grey flows away very pleasantly, although it does lean a bit too heavily on mellow balladry. It's a pity because when LaBrie experiments with the use of acoustic instruments in a more hard rock / uptempo context, things get really interesting, like on the two acoustic rockers "Devil in Drag" and "Hit Me like a Brick". The slow tunes are of course great too, although only some truly hit the mark (the heartrending "Sunset Ruin", dedicated to LaBrie's late brother; "Am I Right", where we also find a cameo by Theresa Thomason, whom Dream Theater's fans may remember from her duets with LaBrie on "The Spirit Carries On"), while others fall somewhat flat, suffering from weaker melodic ideas ("SuperNova Girl", "Wildflower"). I am also slightly puzzled by the way LaBrie chose to close the album, with a Led Zeppelin's cover ("Ramble On") and an "electric" version of the LP's opening track, "Devil in Drag". While it may be mildly entertaining to hear LaBrie do his best Plant's impersonation, both songs feel largely unnecessary, and spoil somewhat the record's flow.

Nevertheless, Beautiful Shade of Grey remains a thoroughly enjoyable record that shows a side of LaBrie that we do get to see often with his main band. Dream Theater's fans (and metalheads in general) may not be overly impressed by the LP, because there are essentially zero traces of metal here. The album may instead appeal more to fans of 1970s hard rock / prog rock, who may be surprised to find in LaBrie a new, versatile voice for their favourite genre.

In 2011, James LaBrie met bassist Paul Logue of Eden's Curse when he provided vocals for their song "No Holy Man". They kept in touch and spoke every often about working together, and then in 2020 they bumped into each other at Glasgow Airport when Dream Theater were in town for some gigs. With the world about to change they committed to a project together, with Logue providing acoustic guitars (both six and 12-string) as well as acoustic bass. Guitarist Marco Sfogli, who has contributed on all of LaBrie's solo albums since 2005's 'Elements of Persuasion', handled the leads and solos while Logue brought in Eden's Curse keyboard player Christian Pulkkinen and suggested to LaBrie that they should use James' son Chance on drums. The result is something which is quite different to what we would normally expect from LaBrie, as while his vocals are as stunning as ever, here they are against a far softer, gentler and acoustic backdrop which provides for something very interesting indeed.

I must confess I did not realise he is 14 days older than me (we are both 60 next month), as I always thought he was much younger, and although he still may struggle to hit the very high notes due rupturing his vocal cords when he had food poisoning back in the 90's, he has had a major impact on singers in multiple genres and can always be relied upon to deliver a great performance. The more acoustic setting on this album means that James is more relaxed and not as driving as one normally expects from him, and consequently delivers a wonderful vocal performance which is a delight. While the basis of this album is melodic rock, there are also elements of singer songwriter, and it very much feels like a singer's album with multiple layers contained within. Like most progheads I have been a fan of Dream Theater for many years, and have always been an admirer of his vocals, yet here he shines in a very different direction and the result is something which will appeal to those who are already fans as well as those who have yet to jump in. I certainly hope that Logue and LaBrie work again in the near future.