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Review Summary: Buddy Lackey and friends are wasting time and effort in a recess from their main activities. In an atypical list about severely underrated musicians and bands within the progressive rock/metal niche, Buddy Lackey (or Devon Graves) and Psychotic Waltz would make the top five, no questions asked. Speaking about Psychotic Waltz, they were (and fortunately as of 2011 are) a collective of extremely talented musicians (some of them multi-instrumentalists), with a strong point of view with respect to the whereabouts and the future development of the band’s music. What’s usually the case in a collective of extremely talented artists is the reality of ever lasting debates over artistic differences and directions, not always expressed in the most civilized of ways. Psychotic Waltz were no exception, as all bands members and especially multi-instrumentalists Dan Rock (guitar, keyboards) and Buddy Lackey (guitar, flute, keyboards, vocals) were known to perpetually quarrel over artistic and musical composition matters during the short-lived first era of the band. However, it is by now a common ground that this sequence between quarreling and temporary settlement between band members is what allowed Psychotic Waltz to contribute four unmatched progressive metal records to the music world.
After Psychotic Waltz’s most unfortunate break up during the second half of the ‘90s, Buddy Lackey self caged himself in his room, and started composing music around the clock. Then he changed his name to Devon Graves and moved to Austria, Europe where he founded Deadsoul Tribe by recruiting musicians from the local rock/metal scene. In contrast to what was the case in Psychotic Waltz, Buddy Lackey was by far the most proficient musician in the band’s lineup, while he had the final call in the band’s musical direction. Deadsoul Tribe never recorded a bad record, yet their yield never matched that of Psychotic Waltz, due to the absence of substantial creative osmosis between band members, something that Buddy Lackey complained about in interviews following the dissolution of Deadsoul Tribe. During the touring days of Deadsoul Tribe, Lackey came in contact with a lot of talented musicians and in his own words he always wondered how a new band would lineup with some of the talented musicians he had met on road. Shortly after the announcement of Psychotic Waltz getting back together after nearly 14 years of absence, Lackey is releasing a record with a new project, titled The Shadow Theory. The project is featuring Johanne James (Threshold) on drums, Kris Gildenlöw (ex-Pain of Salvation) on bass, Arne Schuppner (Complex 7) on guitars and Demi Scott, a session keyboard player from Greece with no prior full time band participation. The project’s debut album is titled Behind The Black Veil and, as a whole, it is rather a casual stretch than a really worthy workout for both the acclaimed and unknown participant musicians.
According to the band, the music lies nominally between the common space formed by symphonic/psychedelic metal, progressive rock, folk rock and thrash. In reality, the music leans mainly to ‘90s progressive metal, with specs of folk (see Jethro Tull) and symphonic rock (see Queen). The element of thrash is evident mostly in the rough and “dry” sound of the guitars and less on the actual riffs found within the body of songs. Given the critical acclaim for the three fifths of the band, it would be fair to assume that the final outcome would be something of great merit. Unfortunately The Shadow Theory are barely scratching the surface. Although the band has a good performance and the sound production is flawless, the music mainly goes through the motions. First thing that solidifies this impression is the rhythm section, which blindly reproduces all those ‘90s prog patterns, without a single hint of innovation and differentiation. The same apply for the guitars, which closely follow the rhythm section, while they take little to no initiative in endorsing diverse riffing. The previously mentioned thrash metal element would be in principle a strong ingredient for fruitful differentiation of the music. However, it is seldom implemented within the body of songs. As for keyboards, they walk the same way with previously mentioned instruments, while the impression that little room existed for them in the first place within the songs, is ever constant. The folk influence is expressed solely through Lackey’s flute but truth is that he has composed and played far more interesting things in flute in the past. With regard to his vocals, his choices and realizations are weak, especially in view of the overall volume intensity of the music in here, which is elevated with respect to what Deadsoul Tribe did in the past. Most unfortunately, Lackey’s vocals continue to attain that “quiet” style, firstly established with DST, for the most part of the record. As a result, the music comes in front of the play, yet Behind The Veil is not an instrumental record but a concept one. The situation gets worse when Lackey tries to sing high pitch and get above the music, as unfortunately he seems unable to do so.
Behind The Black Veil is a concept record about a man who is suffering from constant nightmare in his sleep until he fails to distinguish between reality and fiction. The record, however, is formulaic in respect to the narration of the concept story as well. Instead of a cohesive and unified work of music, the record looks like a collection of songs that bare little musical cohesion as a whole, so as to support the concept. This is even more unfortunate, should someone take hold that Buddy Lackey worked on the concept since 2007. His initial intention was to make a concept record by mixing the work of King Diamond with progressive metal. Despite the existence of good intentions, the end result is far below the high standards of ‘90s/contemporary progressive metal and King Diamond’s work. In this point, someone might wonder how things turned up other than planned. Unfortunately, the answer seems to lie in the aforementioned absence of a truly prolific interplay between band members, a situation which Lackey had experienced in Deadsoul Tribe to a much greater extent. According to his interviews, Lackey was really fed up with writing the music and the vocal lines in Deadsoul Tribe. By forming this project, he focused on vocals and left the composition of music to the newly assembled lineup. Unfortunately, enhanced musicianship does not always ensure good composing abilities, and this is the case at hand for Behind The Black Veil.
In closing, Behind The Black Veil is another worthy addition in the long list of supergroup-coined progressive metal albums that failed to achieve a high merit. More of another line in the participants resumé than a really worthy addition, this record is bound to fall into oblivion. Despite the fact that Buddy Lackey found more proficient musicians to team up his new project, the outcome of this record failed to live up to the expectations. Upon the moment these lines are being written, Buddy Lackey is recording the new Psychotic Waltz album in San Diego. While nothing is certain as to how long this reunion will endure in time, these recording sessions can be of value for Buddy in remembering what made Psychotic Waltz to be a monumental band in the first place and most importantly, what really differentiates a proper full time band from a band assembled on the fly.
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Album Rating: 3.0
I Open Up My Eyes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sx5PK7lX5_4
The Sound of Flies:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2XqaJcyeHQ
Welcome:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L74PLi5v1uU
Selebrate:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M321uEsE_WM
Sleepwalking:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp6WvJDv1YE
A Candle In The Gallery:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPnLDB81FKk&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL1DCC693A366201A6
A Symphony Of Shadows:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zr_YVl0CNYo&feature=related
Constructive criticism is most welcome.
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gotta check it. only one user rating, I always love try something new......
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
gotta check it
By all means go for it, but I'm afraid you may lose your time with this.
Check the recs instead.
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I kinda lost his steps for the last years- he seemed to me a bit worn down and repetitive although he never released anything bad
will check a couple of song here and I'll tell you my opinion bro
also, this is a pretty well written review
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
I had a lot of things to say about this and the text got lengthy.
This turned out to be pretty standard and not in the good sense.
Check the first and last link and Selebrate.
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
Start with A Social Grace and go towards the end.
All four of them are masterpieces.
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Holy review. Without having heard it yet (not sure if I will check it out honestly), it seems unfortunate that something with such an interesting premise ended up falling fairly flat.
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
@ Ending
Unfortunately, the case is pretty much as you described it.
No wonder really as to why I am the only one that cared to rate and review it 1+ year after its release.
However, you are encouraged to listen to the links and state your opinion about this first hand.
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I will when I get the chance most likely, just since you so conveniently added them. I'll be sure to let you know what I think.
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Enjoyed the review, gonna have to check this out. Pos'd
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
Thanks man, really appreciate it.
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Wow. This review is monstrous. It's a bit too lengthy for me, but nonetheless good job dude. Pos'd.
It should've been 'ex-Pain Of Salvation' in para 2.
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
Ok I will fix it and thanks for the feedback.
About the review length, I had a lot to say, because I've been tailing Buddy Lackey's course since Psychotic Waltz and I'm aware of all his work.
This review will probably be an exception for me with reference to its length, as I'm quite confortable with the 3-4(max) para reviews.
Although he is a talented multi-instrumentalist, he hasn't been part of a really good ensemble of musicians since the Psychotic Waltz era.
As a result, he has issued albums whose merit is fluctuating well below his true potential.
This album is not exception, I'm afraid.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Whoa, surprised to see this here. Good review. It's super long mostly because of the backstory, but there's enough detail to justify it. That said, I disagree with a lot of what you wrote. It seems like you were a bit disappointed with the musical direction they took with this project. I would've preferred a Psychotic Waltz album too, but come on. Haha.
The situation gets worse when Lackey tries to sing high pitch and get above the music, as unfortunately he seems unable to do so.
Are you referring to a specific moment? He definitely succeeds on "By the Crossroads". I consider this record to be his most ambitious vocal performance since PW. By far.
As far as I'm concerned, "The Sound of Flies", "Ghostride", "By the Crossroads", "Selebrate" and "The Black Cradle" rival the best Deadsoul Tribe material. They are also quite varied in their structure and composition. Still, I feel that these guys managed to link everything together nicely. Each song has a certain darkness made prevalent through the use of the acoustic guitars, keyboards or simply the type of vocal melodies. It's really cohesive.
Very solid concept album, imo.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
"I'm a woman who likes men."
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
It seems like you were a bit disappointed with the musical direction they took with this project.
That's half the truth for me. The other half is that I've listened to this at least 30 times since it came out and it didn't grow on me one bit.
The album is full of '90s prog metal cliches (the sound of keyboards, the beats of the rhythm section etc), The guitar riffs are pretty standard, as far as I'm concerned.
It's a good album (hence the three/five), but that's that.
The situation gets worse when Lackey tries to sing high pitch and get above the music, as unfortunately he seems unable to do so.
Are you referring to a specific moment? He definitely succeeds on "By the Crossroads". I consider this record to be his most ambitious vocal performance since PW. By far.
I'm referring to the album as a whole. The intensity of music covers his voice, at least from where I'm standing. That's markedly apparent on "I Opened Up My Eyes" and in a good portion of every musical phrase in which he lays his vocals to settle.
As for the comparison of Buddy's vocals here with respect to PW, I was referring to the first two PW albums, where Buddy's voice went sky high with a snap of a finger over the arrangements which were pretty intense and diverse (more on A Social Grace and somewhat less on Into The Everflow). The Buddy Lackey of the first two PW albums would have wrecked the place to sonic debris.
I suppose you are referring to Bleeding, where his vocals started to mellow for better or for worse.
As far as I'm concerned, "The Sound of Flies", "Ghostride", "By the Crossroads", "Selebrate" and "The Black Cradle" rival the best Deadsoul Tribe material. They are also quite varied in their structure and composition. Still, I feel that these guys managed to link everything together nicely. Each song has a certain darkness made prevalent through the use of the acoustic guitars, keyboards or simply the type of vocal melodies. It's really cohesive.
I can't disagree, as i said, it is a good record, but I expected much much more.
It's just that I'm really fed up with '90s prog and this record does little to separate its position from that era.
It's a solid concept album, imo
Nobody said otherwise, Lackey is a good writer, but music in here does fall behind, imo at least.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Alright. I agree it's nothing innovative, but the music was well executed and compares favorably to other acts in the genre. Devon's distinctive vocals (which have never been paired with this style of music) and the overall consistency of the album put it into "great" territory for me.
I expected more too based on the interviews I'd seen before this was released. Oh well.
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
the music was well executed and compares favorably to other acts in the genre.
I mention that in the review. The comparison is set with reference to what Buddy has achieved in the past.
I expected more too based on the interviews I'd seen before this was released.
Exactly.
The keyboard player is from my homeland, Greece.
As I was writing this, i was reading a 2009 interview from a Greek music site for the (then) upcoming TST album.
His statements as to how awesome this record would turn out made me grin, to be honest.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Haha, yeah. Devon was also painting these guys as if they were the greatest musicians of our generation and had written some mindblowing music for him. I wasn't familiar with anyone else besides Gildenlow (and he is certainly amazing) so I took his word for and was really hyped to listen.
I mention that in the review. The comparison is set with reference to what Buddy has achieved in the past.
Yeah, but what he achieved in the past with PW was special and very few artists have matched that since. Also, the style of this record is quite a bit different from anything else he's done so it's not really fair to judge it by those standards.
I don't think we really disagree much about the album then. The review just read more negative than that in some places, for example:
Instead of a cohesive and unified work of music, the record looks like a collection of songs that bare little musical cohesion as a whole
...
the end result is far below the high standards of ‘90s/contemporary progressive metal
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
Agreed.
That thing about cohesiveness was written baring some classic concept albums in mind like Operation: Mindcrime where the music is insanely dense.
As for '90s prog metal, I have listened to far more inspired versions of it, that's why I wrote what I wrote.
The Shadow Theory guitarist comes from a prog thrash band called Complex 7.
Listened to it the other date, average-to-good band.
As for the keyboard player, this is his first album.....
Johannes Lames plays the drums for the latest incarnation of Threshold, a band with only good records on its back.
Gildenlow participates in a band called Dial.
Buddy Lackey did the sound production for them.
Have you listened to Dial's album??
I'm curious to find out how it sounds.
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