Label: Liljegren Records / Doolittle Group 2012
Review by Kimmo Toivonen
I've actually liked some of the previous Reinxeed albums I've heard, but with "Welcome To The Theater" Tommy Reinxeed and his band is really testing me. I'm afraid I'm failing the test, as this album is just TOO MUCH. Apparently these songs were influenced by movies, and by listening to it those movies must have been nothing but BIG spectacles. You can imagine huge armies with swords in the air, dragons flying above and giants stomping around...
Just about each one of the songs on the album is ultra-fast and heavily orchestrated. The use of the orchestration can only be compared to that of Nightwish, but somehow Reinxeed's way of doing it is much more overbearing. I guess I could've dealt with it if there had been some remarkably great melodies in the songs, but no... Somehow I feel that Tommy has lost his touch or become obsessed in making everything bigger than everything else. Okay, "Somewhere In Time" and title track and couple of others have traces of what I liked in Reinxeed's music, but otherwise, this is a case of "not enough cake, too much icing".
Facebook
MySpace
Plain and simple, Tommy has a passion for that style of songwriting. It does not always translate into what the typical metal fan wants to hear, but the musicianship and energy is phenomenal!
ReplyDeleteI have to be in the mood to hear it, but it fills a gap in my tastes that only ReinXeed can!!
I don't think this lives up to ReinXeed's 1912 cd, which deals with one central theme, and expands on it, and its one of those albums that I can listen to again and again and catch something new in it. This one I think for him is just a plain 'ode ot his favorite movies' ... especially when you read the mash up of the song 'Welcome to the Theater'. I would love to hear him use a live orchestra and a choirfor an album, and once more with a single overarching theme -- that would be a KILLER album. One last thought --Frida Viberg on 'Save Us' was a REALLY big surprise and stand-out. Loved her vocals.
ReplyDelete