CRYSTAL TEARS - review added 10th June 2010
Album Review: Generation X (2010)
For fans of: Heavy Metal... and Doogie White-isms
Crystal Tears was originally formed in Greece in 1997. After a few demos they released their first studio album - Choirs Of Immortal - in 2006. By 2008 they had joined with singer Ian Parry (Elegy) to record the follow-up.
Generation X is produced by R. D. Liapakis (Mystic Prophecy). Alongside Ian, the band features Dimitris Goutziamanis on guitars, Stratos Dionisopoulos on bass, and Chrisafis Tantanozis on drums.
The sound is somewhere in the midst of heavy metal, power metal, and hard rock. The dominating force is Ian's vocals. He has a characterful tone, not unlike Doogie White, and boy is he loud! So dominating is his voice, it's actually hard to focus on the music itself. Maybe it's just that the music is a tad apologetic, I'm not sure, but hardly any of the musicianship stands out. Listen closely and it all sounds well played, but as soon as your concentration wavers the vocals jump out front and take over again.
Because of the balance issues - which stem more from the arrangements than the production - few of the songs rise head and shoulders above the rest. The eponymous 'Crystal Tears' is the best of the lot, but even it isn't classically great.
Overall, this is a powerful album full of 'ample' songs. It certainly isn't rubbish, but equally it isn't great. Fans of the genre will definitely get something from this, but there are better albums out there.
Check out... Those vocals. Love or hate...?
Track List:
01. Inner Spirit
02. Heroes
03. Nightmare Serenade
04. Empty Paradise
05. Crystal Tears
06. In The Beginning
07. Rock Until We Fall
08. Predators
09. Flesh N Bone
10. The X Generation
Label: 7Hard
Artist's website(s): MySpace
