|
|
Album: Terra Incognita: Beyond the Horizon Reviewer: Nick
When people hear the term super-group, they generally think only of a well known bunch of musicians collaborating in a band or project. However Roswell Six takes the term a step farther, as it not only brings forth musicians such as James LaBrie, Erik Norlander, Lana Lane, John Payne, and Gary Wehrkamp, but also international best-selling science fiction author Kevin J. Anderson who not only collaborated with his wife to write the lyrics for the album, but also wrote an entire novel, The Edge of the World, on which those lyrics are based.
Musically, the album is fronted by Rocket Scientists main man Erik Norlander, who is credited with composing the album, keyboards, and as the album’s mixer. Because of this it should come as no surprise when you run across sections that may remind you of his solo work, or his work with the Rocket Scientists. Perhaps the biggest instance of this is “Letters in a Bottle” which features Erik’s wife, and frequent collaborator Lana Lane. All of this however, is more of an observation than it is a complaint. For the most part Erik’s compositions are excellent, and they range from the epic opening track “Ishalem”, to the straight forward and rocking “I Am the Point”, to the instrumental “The Sinking of the Luminara”, to the soft ballad “Merciful Tides”. However one of my biggest complaints is that the album is laced with excellent composers like Gary Wehrkamp and John Payne, but you don’t really hear any influence from them in the music at all. I believe a better album could have been made if they had contributed to the composition, instead of being restricted to doing just guitars and vocals respectively. Similarly, I don’t believe that the musicians on the album were used to their fullest extent. Musically the album is very subdued from many of the instruments perspectives, and I don’t think the vocalists, especially James LaBrie were fully utilized on the album, and some of the vocal melodies just don’t seem right. I think a quick listen to Ayreon’s The Human Equation would have shown how well James LaBrie can be used in the context of a somewhat similar album.
These of course, are complaints mainly of what could have been, whereas we are dealing with what Terra Incognita: Beyond the Horizon is, and it is a very well constructed project, and a very strong musical effort by Erik Norlander. The sound and mix is very good, the songs are memorable, and as a whole the entire album works together along with transition text in the booklet to make this the perfect compliment to The Edge of the World novel. The multiple characters, and by extension vocalists, go a long way in making the tracks stand out against one another, and so far this is the most impressive work to come out this year.
Nick's Rating: 92% |
|
