Back in 2003 I bought their debut album 'Dreaming Awake' for a
so called 'newcomer price'. Perhaps I would not have bought it for a higher
price and then I sure would have missed something. I was impressed by the
melodic songs with nice refrains and keyboard lines. The mix of AOR, power metal
and progressive stuff convinced me. Now 12 years later, the band found that a
few songs on that album are too good not to get a new chance with a better
production.
The
first four are re-recorded songs of their debut album with hired (or is he
already in the band) vocalist Daniel Heiman who also performed on their 2014
album "Theatre Of Redemption'. The guitars sound a bit more in front than on the
debut and the keyboards a little bit further to the background, but for the rest
the songs didn't change a lot. I can't say that I like the new versions better
than the first ones, the combination of nice refrains, melody, nice riffs and
the progressive elements are still something I appreciate. The two new songs are
just in the line of what you expect from Harmony. The first "In His Heart" has a
very commercial AOR refrain but also the typical crunchy guitar riffs. I can
advice the band to continue with Daniel on the vocal part, because his singing
is the icing on the cake. After an accoustic guitar intro "Feed My Hunger"
underlines that the band has reached a level that there are no weak songs
anymore. It is an epic track typical Harmony style.
Fans of the band have to decide if two new tracks and the re-recorded songs are
worth to spend their money on. I like them, but I can imagine that if you
already own their debut, that only legal downloading the 2 new tracks is enough.
