TDW is off course as
some of you might know one of many Tom de Wit projects. He is a composer, singer
and multi-instrumentalist as well as a producer. He is the brain-child behind and
overseer of all aspects of this new TDW album.
On this album he has taken
care of the production, composing, lead and backing vocals, guitars, bass,
synths and the orchestral and drums arrangements. So like always he leaves
nothing to chance and has called in for help where he feels its needed: backing
and lead vocals have been done by: Laura ten Voorde (Adeia),
Sander Stegeman (Sense Vs Sanity, Disintegrate), Rosita Reitsma (Ex-Carthago,
Ex-Amberlinn), Maarten Gunsing (Animal Me). Various leads (guitar, violin, synth
and Dulcimer) by Elvya Dulcimer, Lennert Kemper (ReSolve), Sybren Boonstra (Dimaeon),
Michiel van der Werff (Weltschmerz), Norbert Veenbrink (Mindshade), Hanna van
Gorcum (AmmA), Tristan Visser (Majesty), Joop de Rooij (Ex-Magion, Ex-Galanor),
Frank Schiphorst (MaYaN) and Ben van Gastel (Sylvium).
So many people has been involved in this
undertaking and the outcome is once more a multi-facetted progressive metal
album. I had my reservations about his 2011 double-album "Scrapbook", so my
expectations were so-so. And once more I have been left a bit under-whelmed...
yes, the potential is clear and the execution is good, but again I feel the
production is somewhat uneven; the guitars sound isn't as sharp and as
in-your-face as I had hoped for. The keys are dominating the overall sound
picture too much. Tom is a good vocalist, but he has his limitations. And again
I feel the span between the strong and more weak points on the album is too
wide: none-the-less it's still a solid album and a tad better than "Scrapbook"
and Tom is moving in the right direction with this new album.
Solid!
