DESTINY?

"Destiny?" Is the third release from the Canadian progressive rock band MYSTERY. They were formed in 1986. Their music is progressive symphonic rock with traces of AOR, blues and pop with some mood and tempo changes. They're reminiscent to KANSAS, QUEENSRYCHE and RUSH. They're good at arranging and writing memorable melodies, and they are great musicians. The excellent singer is a mix between Jon Anderson (YES), Rik Emmett (TRIUMPH), Geddy Lee (RUSH) and Steve Perry (JOURNEY). All in all this is a excellent album that is worth checking out. Very good!

The good sits amongst the poor on this album. The rather below average AOR ''Legend'' strikes your senses on the weak side unfortunately. To be honest, the music developed in ''Destiny'' (the title track) remains in the same AOR-ish moods even if more enjoyable.

The nice rock ballad ''Slave To Liberty'' is the first good song and features an excellent guitar part. The job of the lead vocalist is also more convincing in this song; but you'll have to be able to bear ''Rush'' (Lee) or ''Pavlov's Dog'' (Surkamp) type of vocals to fully appreciate.

Since the band is Canadian, there are some French words to introduce ''Before The Dawn'' which shows a heavier angle of their music. Still, this is radio-oriented music and shouldn't thrill lots of progheads. The acoustic middle part is well crafted and the following electric guitar section is, again, very strong.

The long ''Queen Of Vajra Space'' has a more prog feel. Very similar in much aspect to ''IQ'' (including vocals). It is true to say that their lead vocalist has a pretty wide range (even if not always appealing). Melodic instrumental sections (of which guitar absolutely shines) are really astounding and raise the quality of this album. ''Queen ? '' is THE highlight .

The quality of the album remains in good territory further on, even if some popish atmosphere does prevail in the rock ballad ''Mourning Man''. Actually, this album ends up better than it all started. It really sounds much more to neo-prog during ''Submerged''. The track doesn't submerged me overall, but I have to admit that the vocals are quite passionate.

The closing epic also belongs to the best material available: as usual the guitar is extremely pleasant and the feel ranges from neo to heavy-prog (even prog metal, if only this genre would exist).

Three stars for this album

Mystery come from Lorraine,Canada, formed in 1986 by Michel St-Pere as a studio project.With the first solid six-piece line-up established in 1990 they released a self-titled mini-CD in 1992,after which bassist Richard Addison left to form Addison Project and drummer Stephane Perreault lost both his legs due to a serious illness.Still,he remained a member of the band,which by 1995 was down to a quartet.The same year St-Pere establishes the major prog label Unicorn and the year after Mystery release the album ''Theatre of the Mind'',another Melodic Rock effort.Unfortunately Perreault left the band shortly after,replaced by Steve Gagne.In 1998 it was time for the band's third studio release ''Destiny?''.

Often described as Mystery's first effort into the Progressive Rock field,the album still belongs into the Melodic Rock/AOR category with some Hard Rock touches and minor prog influences.The sound contains elements from bands like SAGA, ASIA, JOURNEY and FOREIGNER as well as strong RUSH overtones at moments.Melodic and groovy guitars combine with light keyboards and the sweet yet hoarse voice of the long-time vocalist Gary Savoie to produce some decent atmospheres with an AOR vibe and hints of pomposity,but trully far from what I call prog.There are also plenty of mellow moments with rather cliche tunes of melodramatic rock,strongly based on the lyrical content.However the two-three longer cuts contain also quasi-prog moments with changing climates,keyboards on the front with some good soloing and a bit more complicated arrangements along with interesting guitar parts,making them propably of interest for the Progressive Rock fans.However the lack of some conveincing dynamics prevent even these tracks from being trully captivating.

''Destiny?'' finds Mystery in a transition period.The band starts to add some prog elements in its sound,but the whole package is still in a very commercial vein.Additionally these easy-listening tracks are good but without strong memorable content.The album might be of some interest for fans of FINAL CONFLICT,PALLAS and early CREDO...2.5 stars.

Vajra Space?

Destiny? is Mystery's second full length album and in many ways it continues on where their debut album left off. However, this album is more progressive, and is also (at least partly) closer to (early) Prog Metal and (harder-edged) Neo-Prog. Like on Theatre Of The Mind, the lead vocals of Gary Savoie are once again uncannily similar to those of Steve Perry of Journey. Many aspects of the music itself also still reminds heavily of that band. But it is also possible to detect similarities to Rush and Queensryche (among others) this time around. The few brief spoken word passages gives the album a slight conceptual feel.

While some songs here would have fitted perfectly on the debut (and vice versa), songs like the 15 minute plus closer Shadow Of The Lake is a lot more ambitious than anything from that first album. There is once again an appealing mix here between ballads and rockers, and between electric and acoustic instruments and the music is very well written, performed, and recorded. Admitedly, coming from 1998, it does feel somewhat dated at times (especially having in mind the new generation of good bands that emerged in the late 80's and early 90's like Dream Theater). But I enjoy this music, and I'm sure that many other Prog fans could like it too.

After this album, Mystery would sadly disappear for a very long time, re-emerging only in 2007 with a new album, featuring a new vocalist, and a new style. Destiny? remains the best representative of the band's early period (but Theatre Of The Mind should not be overlooked!).

Very good!

Second album by the Canadians Mystery, which follows footsteps of the good debut that wasTheater of the Mind!

My problem with Destiny?, however, is still the same as in their previous album but this time exacerbated by the lack of evolution that this second work needed, but is not to be found.

The compositions and the sound of the album are still very anchored in the 80s, which would not necessarily be a bad thing if it were accompanied by some moderately interesting compositions, which does not happen in most of the album.

Which also does not exactly help is the voice of Gary Savoie, too monochromatic, old-fashioned and high pitched for my taste, being in my opinion a run-down version of Steve Perry, lead singer of Journey.

By that I don't mean that Destiny? is a bad album, but surely Michel St. Père managed to make it much better on successive albums, leaving these first two efforts as early works where the band did not fully exploit its potential.

In any case, if you are interested in the 80's progressive rock with tons of AOR influences, maybe this Destiny? will appeal you, but I found it boring on successive listens!

Best Tracks: Destiny? (again, guitar riffs and melodies influenced by Savatage, and the AOR of the 80s), Queen of Varja Space (the best song on the album, featuring a subtle, delicate and quite catchy chorus) and Submerged (the most intense song on the album, skimming hard rock)

My rating: **

Founded in 1986, the band had only released one studio album previous to this one. Obviously the band was still trying to solidify its identity much less a vision for itself.

1. "Legend" (2:42) affected schlock. (4/5)

2. "Destiny?" (4:56) nice music to support Gary Savoie's Robert Plant/Steve Perry-like vocal styling. I really like the clarity given to all of the guitar parts: the soundscape is not nearly as lush and pervasive as the band's future sound becomes. Quite an excellent song! (9.5/10)

3. "Slave to Liberty" (5:35) more excellent guitar-based sonic landscape--almost like peak WHITESNAKE ("Is This Love?"). Great vocals over really nice song construction. Really portentous of some of the great songwriting/production of the future. (9.125/10)

4. "Before the Dawn" (6:29) Gary Savoie masterfully sings to help firm the establishment of the band's tradition of great ballad deliverers. Solid. (8.75/10)

5. "Queen of Vajra Space" (9:20) pure RUSH/JOURNEY imitation. Nice guitar performances but otherwise too imitative. (17/20)

6. "The Mourning Man" (4:47) starts delicately but then bursts out as a kind of Caribbean-infused heavy metal hair band song. Some very impressive guitar playing from Michel St-Père. (8.666667/10)

7. "Submerged" (7:53) a very solid and fresh 1980s metal-influenced song with great performances from all. (13.25/15)

8. "Shadow of the Lake" (14:55) another song that sounds very much like future Mystery: expressing a musical form and vision that is what becomes their own. Great composition with perfect performances and production--the attention to nuances is really wonderful. And Gary Savoie's vocal performance is perfectly matched to the music, never over the top or below grade. The middle section drags on a bit (could have been shorter) but the buildup, peak, and dénouement are top notch. I love that final section--and especially Gary Savoie's performance and Michel's long, protracted guitar outro. So emotional! One of the great prog epics of the 1990s! (28.75/30)

Total Time 56:37

B+/4.5 stars; a near-masterpiece of classic rock-influenced heavy NeoProg.