Remember
the days when you could get excited about an album just by looking at the
magnificent album cover? When music came on vinyl and you had to turn the
platter over very often... Well I got a similar feeling looking at the brilliant
cover artwork for Tangent Plane's "Project Elimi" album, but I learned my lesson
once more: don't judge a book by its cover!
This is
one of those cases of what could have been if only... all indications points
towards this being one of this years best newcomers in progressive metal; the
reputation of the band proceeds them and the musical and lyrical concept of
keyboard player Ralph Swan should be just what any progressive power metal fan
has been waiting for.
And
Tangent Plane is clearly a companionship of talented musicians and they
could have hit the progressive metal scene like a bomb if only all of them
delivered at the same high level, but one falls short: vocalist Jan Michaelis.
I have
been listening to this album for more than a month now, and all I feel is
frustration: they have the music to make a stir in the scene, but the vocals are
spoiling the fun and leave us with an album that will suffer greatly from it.
One of many "if only"-cases, but he really spoils it all for me, and I am sure I
won't turn to this album on many occasions, if ever again...
But give
it a listen, because it does offer some strong instrumental pieces and maybe
it's just me getting a bit too picky as I grow older...
