THE TALES OF EDGAR ALLAN POE - A SYNPHONIC COLLECTION

Having discovered the Colossus Project's put out by Musea Records with the excellent 'The Stories Of H.P. Lovecraft: A SyNphonic Collection' i decided to dive in once again randomly and check out another compilation that came out two years early. Part of the same exact theme of taking a literary figure and setting them to his life's work, i decided to try the similarly laid out THE TALES OF EDGAR ALLEN POE: A SYNPHONIC COLLECTION. Unlike the Lovecraft set which contains a whopping three discs of music, this one has only two but two filled to the brim ones they are. Not exactly familiar with POE's tales of mystery and the macabre i wasn't exactly sure what to expect except some serious prog that is symphonic in nature. Well, that's what we get alright, but unlike the Lovecraft set that blew me away on first listen and continued to retain its strong character, i can't say the same for this one.

Right from the start we get a lengthy 'Intro' by Marco Lo Muscio, which sounds like a Bach inspired church organ that sets the mysterious vibe that is supposed to be the theme here i guess. Not a bad 'Intro' at all and ushers in the next strong track 'The Black Cat' by Senogul that takes the baton and continues the mysterious mood building and progifies it. This is a really cool track by a band i never knew and am eager to check out more of their output. The track is the epitome of symphonic prog and has satisfying time sig changes, keyboard outbursts and creative changes. At this point i'm very pleased i bought this!

This attitude changes with the next track though. 'A Descent Into The Maelstrom' by La Th'orie des Cordes is a decent track but lacks the interesting touches and seems more like a symphonic prog by the numbers piece. The next track is one of my favorites. The Canadian prog metal band Oracle delivers the most energetic and satisfying track on the album IMHO in the form of 'Tall Tale Heart.' Unfortunately after investigating, this band has not released any album and only three tracks that appear on three separate compilations this being one of them. Well, unfortunately the tide turns here and the rest of disc one devolves into decently done but hardly outstanding tracks that tend to wear out their welcome. Disc one ends with a particularly limp track by Jinetes Negros.

Disc two begins a lot like disc one with some Baroque sounding organ by Jukka Kulju which quickly turns into a decent mid-70s Genesis feel track but never really goes anywhere truly interesting and meanders on and on way too long. The next track by Anima Morte is ok but not outstanding but followed by the jazzy 'The Gold Bag' by Blank Manuscript which is a much better track and another of my faves. It is short but sweet and although not significantly different than much of this album it just has a slight edge over the rest in keeping things more interesting. The rest of disc two treads the waters of mediocrity much in the same way that disc one does with the exception of the excellent finale by Daal 'The Fall Of The House Of Usher' which at 16:18 is the longest track on the entire compilation but this track is available on their 'Echoes Of Falling Stars' album so nothing new for me.

Overall i am disappointed with this one. It is worth owning for the few strong tracks and really the rest of the tracks are mostly decent with only a few that are irritating but i have read that this is one of the weakest offerings in the Colossus Projects and i have to agree so i will sally forth into the great unknown and when i pick up the next one and hope it is indeed better than this one.

In case you're wondering here is the whole list of Colossus Project released so far:

Tuonen Tytar: A Tribute To Finnish Progressive (2000)

Kalevala - Finnish Progressive Rock Epic (2003)

The Spaghetti Epic - Six Modern Prog Bands For Six Seventies Prog Suites (2004)

Odyssey - The Greatest Tale (2005)

The Colossus of Rhodes (2006)

The 7 Samurai - The Ultimate Epic (2006)

The Spaghetti Epic 2 - The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly (2007)

Treasure Island (2007)

Giallo! One Suite for the Murderer (2008)

The Empire and The Rebellion (2008)

Dante's Divine Comedy Part I - Dante's Inferno (2009)

Dante's Divine Comedy Part II ? Purgatorio (2009)

Rökstenen - a Tribute to Swedish Progressive Rock of the 70's (2009)

The Spaghetti Epic 3 - The Great Silence (2009)

Tuonen Tytar-A Tribute To Finnish Progressive Rock Of The Seventies - Volume Two (2009)

Iliad: A Grand Piano Extravaganza (2010)

THE TALES OF EDGAR ALLEN POE: A SYNPHONIC COLLECTION (2010)

Decameron-Ten Days In 100 Novellas - Part I (2011)

The Stories Of H.P. Lovecraft: A SyNphonic Collection (2012)

Decameron - Ten days in 100 novellas - Part II (2014)