I think this is my last review and contribution to our site this year, besides
thinking about which albums to put on the end of the year list. Although we
haven't gotten any winter yet in the Netherlands, I'm already looking forward to
the Summer and the festivals. I don't think this band Greensleeves will be a
part of them, but that is not because their music sucks, but more a financial
issue.
Five years after releasing their first album this progressive Brazilian metal
band releases their second album in September this year. Our chief editor
received a hardcopy and I got interested in the band because of their videoclip
of the opening song "Fireflies" on YouTube. I think that the first song is
immediately the best song (or perhaps the most catchy song) on the album, but
a lot of you might think differently. That first song is well written, heavy, has
fine riffs, uptempo and excellent singing of Gui Nogueira. He has a kind of
sound in his voice reminding of Bruce Dickenson and in the heavier songs he is
at his best. The songs that follow are less heavy and have more serene parts,
have more variety, but don't really have the same impact as the opening track.
You can hear that a band like Fates Warning, but also Dream Theater are big
influences for the band. "Decoding Love" starts like a Fates Warning song and
because of the powerful singing (think Bruce) also reminds me of Iron Maiden. The
guitar riffs are rather groovy and heavy and that makes Greensleeves a lot
heavier than for example Fates Warning. For me a lot of songs are just a little
too long to stay interesting till the end. "Fading Heroes" is another song I
like very much, it is the fastest and heaviest track on the album and reminds me
of Dream Theater's 'Train of Thought' era. The longest song "Inertial Frames of
Reference" is a track in which the Dream Theater with Iron Maiden influence
works o.k., but is just packed full with too many ideas. Next time make two
songs out of it and I think it will even work out better.
Perhaps I'm a little too critical, and this sure isn't a bad album, but
sometimes longer doesn't make things better... The music on this CD is a mix of
Dream Theater, Pagan's Mind, Fates Warning and Iron Maiden and should be very
interesting for the progressive metal fans to check out!
