Hey folks!
You know, there is a duality between a soundtrack and good, solid music that grabs you by the scruff of neck; puts you in a certain frame of mind and never leaves you.
Former will fuel the emotions, the adrenaline, the feel of the film you are watching or the game you are playing while the latter will come out of nowhere to do the same with your own adventures in that particular level (or scene) of the game (or film) of life…
What this unlikely duo, Hans Hess of Bristol, UK and Renan Franzen of Porto Alegre, Brazil did almost ten years ago was to meet each other and share their passion in sound track composition – basically colliding this duality into one package. These two multi-instrumentalist blokes started calling themselves Hess&Franzen, meeting up online quite regularly and composing. Results were varied in feel but you can tell from their debut album {CLOSEDLOCKEDSEALED} that they love soundtracks, they love progressive rock and they have an unbound love of creation as their “show-reel” project UST Vol 01 (where UST stands for unofficial soundtrack) turned into a full-fledged album…
LOMM author Tyler Charles reviewed their single, An Accurate Depiction of Light for you, which features some of my favourite musicians, Jimmy Keegan (whom I had the pleasure to interview), Ryo Okumoto and PelleK (Read the review of the musician’s last album ‘Ocean of Opportunity’ here)…
Over to Tyler…
Cheers,
Lady O
A haunting, mesmerizing intro that seems to be leading to metal mayhem quickly gives way to a bass driven, and rather bright, section. Terrific vocals by PelleK here are a highlight. A rather sudden, progressive change occurs shortly thereafter, with a brief keyboard driven instrumental section that contains a few rapid time signature changes. The instrumentation during the next section is nice, but the female vocals are not quite up to par with what has been heard thus far. This is especially highlighted by the next part, starting at 3:10, where the vocals again shine. I love the keyboard’s “scream” at 3:47, and the epic instrumental breakdown following. The symphonic sounds truly accent these sections. The only drawback is that the progressive elements might go a bit too far here, as it doesn’t give the listener enough time to truly enjoy certain melodies and rhythms before another abrupt change occurs. I don’t particularly care for the male vocal melody at the six minute mark, but the female vocals fit rather beautifully at 6:35. The section builds, but suddenly drops all momentum as another much more calm section begins. The conclusion of the song does successfully build, with an epic gong hit and a relaxing finish provided by some acoustic guitar.
There are some very good parts to be found, specifically during some of the instrumental sections, certain vocal performances/melodies, and the outro. However, the song tries too hard to be ultra-progressive, with cuts that don’t quite fit, and great sections that are too short due to sudden changes. It reminded me of parts of A Change of Seasons (by Dream Theater), but with a less successful outcome. On subsequent listens, the sometimes mediocre vocals truly stand out due to the wonderful performances found near the beginning.
Overall, An Accurate Depiction of Light is a decent song, and enticing enough to warrant further listening to this duo act.
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